A Strange Life: Selected Essays of Louisa May Alcott

by Louisa May Alcott, Liz Rosenberg (Editor), Jane Smiley (Preface)

Collected together for the very first time, witty and wide-ranging essays from the celebrated author of Little Women .

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) is, of course, best known as the author of Little Women (1868). But she was also a noted essayist who wrote on a wide range of subjects, including her father’s failed utopian commune, the benefits of an unmarried life, and her experience as a young woman sent to work in service to alleviate her family’s poverty. Her first literary success was a contemporary close-up account of the American Civil War, brilliantly depicted in Hospital Sketches , which was drawn from her own experience of serving as an army nurse near the nation’s capital. As with her famous novel, Alcott writes these essays with clear observation, unforgettable scenes, and one of the sharpest wits in American literature.

Blending gentle satire with reportage and emotive autobiography, Alcott’s exquisite essays are as exceptional as the novels she is known for. Published together for the first time, this delightful selection shows us another side to one of our most celebrated writers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Classics

168 pages, Hardcover

Published October 31, 2023

About the author

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May Alcott and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many well-known intellectuals of the day, including Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Alcott's family suffered from 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 pen names such as A.M. Barnard, under which she wrote lurid short stories and sensation novels for adults that focused on passion and revenge.
Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. It has been adapted for stage plays, films, and television many times.
Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She also spent her life active in reform movements such as temperance and women's suffrage. She died from a stroke in Boston on March 6, 1888, just two days after her father's death.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to read anything that has to do with Louisa May Alcott so I jumped on this ARC. I also bought the book because I collect anything that has to do with LMA. I have never read a Notting Hill Edition but they are small pocket sized books. This was a quick read of just a sampling of essays that LMA wrote. The Preface is by Jane Smiley and the Introduction is by Liz Rosenberg. I loved that LMA was a straight shooter and had a different way of thinking in her time. She wanted rights for black people and women. The last essay is the story she wrote after being a nurse during the Civil War. I definitely cried reading that one. I enjoyed this very much.

[Rachel]

Interesting mix of essays, some better than others.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always loved Louisa May Alcott and how she was very much ahead of her time. So when I saw this little essay collection I thought I'd check it out. All of the reviews (at the time I read it) on Goodreads were 5 stars and after reading the Preface and Introduction I was excited to read the essay selections. I really enjoyed 3 of them (How I Went Out to Service, Transcendental Wild Oats, and Happy Women) but there were several that were only a page long and I could have used more information because they just seemed too short to get much from them without any context. I didn't find the portion of Hospital Sketches as amazing as other readers did either. Overall, it was a quick read with some selections from Alcott outside of Little Women. Probably still worth reading if you're a big fan but I didn't love all the essay selections.

[Ray Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful little book! Essays that percolate with funny observations about her world and the people in it, always from her progressive perspective. The longest piece, Hospital Sketches, about her short stint as a nurse in a hospital for Union soldiers, begins with humor about her trip from New England to the hospital. Then she reports the grim work of caring for the soldiers, many of whom died with her at their bedside. Serious and disturbing scenes nevertheless reported with a kind of Victorian romanticism that, while less acceptable today, managed to give me a fresh perspective on humans’ determination to hurt each other.

[Signe Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely obsessed with some of these essays but they weren’t all as captivating. I didn’t really get through the hospital sketches but I think I would like to read them if I had my own copy of the book. Even in the essays I didn’t love, I am obsessed with how she writes and talk about mundane things.

Obviously I love this girl after all she has done in the little women department BUT she turned me into an even bigger fan after I read her essay “My boys” about all of her crushes in her life 💕💕💕💕💕

[Jeanmarie Nielsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful! These excerpts encourage me to find all of the complete essays. Candid and bold, LMA was a trail-blazing, independent thinker. Her writings are full of story, wit in commentary, and descriptive turns-of-phrase that sweep the reader along with her.

[Maria Zieno Aebi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful little book so cleverly worded by this talented author. Each essay offered a (often comical) look at life in her times. I especially enjoyed Happy Women where she gave her opinions on the many types of women looking for husbands and why being single is a perfectly respectable state. "My sisters, don't be afraid of the words 'old maid', for it is in your power to make this a term of honor, not reproach."

Her sense of humor is abundant in these essays. She volunteers in an army hospital to tend to soldiers hurt in the battle of Fredricksburg in Hospital Sketches. She goes to much trouble to obtain free train tickets, and then on the train, she writes"...put my tickets in every conceivable place, that they may be get-at-able, and finish by losing them entirely. Suffer agonies till a compassionate neighbor pokes them out of a crack with his penknife. Put them in the inmost corner of my purse, that in the deepest recesses of my pocket, pile a collection of miscellaneous articles atop, and pin up the whole. Just get composed feeling that I've done my best to keep them safely, when the Conductor appears, and I'm forced to rout them all out again, exposing my precautions, and getting into a flutter at keeping the man waiting." Haven't we all been there while traveling?? She is describing Washington as she first sees the city. "The Capitol was so like the pictures that hang opposite the staring Father of his Country that it did not impress me, except to recall the time when I was sure Cinderella went to housekeeping in such a place, after she had married the inflammable Prince; though, even at that early period, I had my doubts as to the wisdom of a match whose foundation was of glass." Love it!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author writes like a dear friend, in a way that transports you to her time. Witty, sarcastic, and far ahead of her time, I can't believe I'm only just now discovering this woman's brilliant writing. I implore you, please read.

Louisa's time in the army hospital clearly impacted her deeply, and though she shoved her feelings down to tend to her patients, writing is how she processed and grieved all that she saw. In the passages, she laments not having the skill of an artist to take down the likenesses of the sleeping men in their beds, but this is a pretty damn close second because of her clarity and skill as a writer. I found myself crying over a Civil War solider named John as if he were a personal friend. A man I never knew and never will meet, who died multiple lifetimes away from me, brought to life so vividly in this personal account.

Each of the writings in this volume has its own charm, but I'm glad it left off with the Civil War Hospital Sketches. They are haunting and beautiful and human in all the ways good writing can and should be. She brings names to the nameless hundreds of the past, which will certainly stick with me, as it must have for her as well.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw this at the library, and thought to myself: It's so little (small trim size, low page count), it won't take long to read. Some of these are selections from essays, and some are complete, and I believe it's the entire text of "Hospital Sketches," the book about being a Civil War nurse that first made her famous. Some of it is funny, some sad, and mostly it's both; all of it is very much worth reading. If you like Alcott, you'll enjoy reading these essays in which she finds her voice; even if you don't care about Little Women, you may find this book of interest, because of her great observational power and choice of topics. Both the preface by Jane Smiley and the introduction by Liz Rosenberg are also very much worth reading, so by all means, check it out.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little Notting Hill edition is brand new in 2023, a small collection of Louisa May Alcott essays and excerpts written throughout her lifetime. From Hospital Sketches about her experience as a Civil War Nurse to Transcendental Wild Oats, the sad story of her family's life at the Fruitlands collective, Alcott's energetic, progressive, positive thinking voice comes through on a variety of social matters, all sprinkled with wry and humble humor. For me it is well worth pondering that voice which still sparkles and is relevant today. Both the introduction and the preface properly inform and educate.

[Julia Kerrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, this edition is just beautiful. Sometimes I would stop midway through reading it to just admire the red ribbon bookmark and the fabric cover. Alcott’s style of writing reminds me of Greta Gerwig’s approach to storytelling, “none of it happened, but it’s all true. It rhymes with the truth.” Reading about “Miss Periwinkle” tells us so much about how Alcott experienced the world—with an observant eye and a great sense of humor. I really felt closer to her after reading these, especially considering she was prouder of her work as an essayist compared to her work as a children’s author.

[Gayathri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book immensely and makes me want to seek out more of Alcott's works. Grew up reading Alcott but with a few decades of life behind me I find myself enjoying her works differently now. Her tender writing, wit and keen observations shine through. Immensely entertaining yet poignant.
This book is elusive, with the size of a pocketbook, it may trick you to believing its a quick read but be forewarned - the words will draw you in, and make you want to stay with the stories a little longer.

[athena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the opportunity to read an author's essays because it feels like such a genuine dialogue with them across time. Some of the stories in here felt admittedly a little too short to really connect with, but Louisa May Alcott's writing style is so charming it drew me in anyway. And so so so much to say about the last story, but I'll keep it short and say it drew me to tears and reminded me to call my family more often. Thank you to Lou, and her strange life, and her experiments.

[Teri Stich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this delightful little book while shelving at the library. It caught my eye and now won my heart. Alcott has a way of writing that just brings you in and keeps you there. A truly gifted writer and now I need to reread Little Women!

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection. Yes, there were a couple of essays that held little interest, but otherwise Louisa May Alcott’s skills shone bright and her writing was captivating. Without a doubt, my favourite entry was the Hospital Sketches, which saw me both laughing and crying. Well worth the read.

[Barbara Kochick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A literary gem.

[Sue Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting to read Alcott's essays about her own life. Her "Hospital Sketches" essay provides a touching picture of nursing during the Civil War. My other favorite was "from Happy Women"

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous! What a great essayist and now one of my favorite Notting Hill Editions!

[zainah ☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

if i could pick to have dinner with anyone, it would be Alcott

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew Louisa May Alcott could be so funny?

[Cynthia Weckbacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read all of Alcott's series for girls when I was young and loved them, but I was unaware of her essays until recently. I really enjoyed this book, the writing is wonderful, her powers of description amazing. I will definitely seek out more of her writing.