Good Wives: Collins Classics

Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888) was an American novelist and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott in New England, she also grew up among many of the well-known intellectuals of the day such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. Alcott's family suffered financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used the pen name A. M. Barnard, under which she wrote novels for young adults. Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Hillside, later called the Wayside, in Concord, Massachusetts and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters. The novel was very well received and is still a popular children's novel today, filmed several times. Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She died in Boston on March 6, 1888.

 • "Six generations of readers have found in the story of the March family universal truths about girls, families and growing up." --Guardian
As they sat together in the twilight, talking over their small plans, the future always grew so beautiful and bright'. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy have grown up together in Orchard House with their friend Laurie next door, and now it's time for them to go out and find their places in the big wide world, to do the great and marvellous things they've dreamed of and discover their 'castles in the air'. They each find themselves tested, and fall in love, but when tragedy strikes they find their best comfort is in each other, and home. BACKSTORY: Learn more about the unusual author and have a go at making jam!

Six generations of readers have found in the story of the March family universal truths about girls, families and growing up Guardian Deals with life's big questions - love and death, war and peace, and ambition versus family responsibility - in a way that is inspiring and realistic. Use a hankie as a bookmark - tears are guaranteed Marie Claire Good Wives is a glorious weep-a-minute...a more complex narrative that follows each of the girls' journeys, real or metaphorical, away from the parental home Independent