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Work / Eight Cousins /Rose in Bloom / Stories & Other Writings
After the success of her beloved masterpiece Little Women, Louisa May Alcott brought her genius for characterization and eye for detail to a series of revolutionary novels and stories that are remarkable in their forthright assertion of women’s rights. This second volume of The Library of America’s Alcott edition gathers these works for the first time, revealing a fascinating and inspiring dimension of a classic American writer.
The first of a trio of novels written over a fruitful three-year period, Work: A Story of Experience (1873) has been called the adult Little Women. It follows the semi-autobiographical story of an orphan named Christie Devon, who, having turned twenty-one, announces “a new Declaration of Independence” and leaves her uncle’s house in order to pursue economic self-sufficiency and to find fulfillment in her profession. Against the backdrop of the Civil War years, Christie works as a servant, actress, governess, companion, seamstress, and army nurse—all jobs that Alcott knew from personal experience—exposing the often insidious ways in which the employments conventionally available to women constrain their self-determination. Alcott’s most overtly feminist novel, Work breaks new ground in the literary representation of women, as its heroine pushes at the boundaries of nineteenth-century expectations and assumptions.
Eight Cousins (1875) concerns the education of Rose Campbell, another orphan who, in her delicate nature and frail health, seems to embody many of the stereotypes of girlhood that shaped Alcott’s world. But with the benefit of an unorthodox, progressive education (one informed by the theories of Alcott’s transcendentalist father Bronson Alcott) and the good and bad examples of her many crisply drawn relations—especially her seven boy cousins—Rose regains her health and envisions a career both as a wife and mother and as a philanthropist.
In Rose in Bloom (1876), the sequel to Eight Cousins, Rose, now twenty, comes out into society and must navigate its perils while choosing between several suitors, including two of her cousins. Further advancing Alcott’s passionate advocacy of women’s rights, Rose insists that she will manage her own fortune rather than find a husband to do it for her.
This Library of America edition includes several noteworthy features. All three novels are presented with beautifully restored line art from the original editions and are supplemented by seven hard-to-find stories and public letters (two restored to print for the first time in more than a century), an authoritative chronology of Alcott’s life, and notes identifying her allusions, quotations, and the autobiographical episodes in her fiction.
The first of a trio of novels written over a fruitful three-year period, Work: A Story of Experience (1873) has been called the adult Little Women. It follows the semi-autobiographical story of an orphan named Christie Devon, who, having turned twenty-one, announces “a new Declaration of Independence” and leaves her uncle’s house in order to pursue economic self-sufficiency and to find fulfillment in her profession. Against the backdrop of the Civil War years, Christie works as a servant, actress, governess, companion, seamstress, and army nurse—all jobs that Alcott knew from personal experience—exposing the often insidious ways in which the employments conventionally available to women constrain their self-determination. Alcott’s most overtly feminist novel, Work breaks new ground in the literary representation of women, as its heroine pushes at the boundaries of nineteenth-century expectations and assumptions.
Eight Cousins (1875) concerns the education of Rose Campbell, another orphan who, in her delicate nature and frail health, seems to embody many of the stereotypes of girlhood that shaped Alcott’s world. But with the benefit of an unorthodox, progressive education (one informed by the theories of Alcott’s transcendentalist father Bronson Alcott) and the good and bad examples of her many crisply drawn relations—especially her seven boy cousins—Rose regains her health and envisions a career both as a wife and mother and as a philanthropist.
In Rose in Bloom (1876), the sequel to Eight Cousins, Rose, now twenty, comes out into society and must navigate its perils while choosing between several suitors, including two of her cousins. Further advancing Alcott’s passionate advocacy of women’s rights, Rose insists that she will manage her own fortune rather than find a husband to do it for her.
This Library of America edition includes several noteworthy features. All three novels are presented with beautifully restored line art from the original editions and are supplemented by seven hard-to-find stories and public letters (two restored to print for the first time in more than a century), an authoritative chronology of Alcott’s life, and notes identifying her allusions, quotations, and the autobiographical episodes in her fiction.
900 pages, Hardcover
First published August 28, 2014
13 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Louisa May Alcott
4,095 books10.6k followersLouisa 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 29, 2021
I’ve reviewed Work: A Story of Experience here
I read the two other included novels when I was young and I loved them. If I reread them, I’ll come back to add reviews.
The section titled “Stories & Other Writings” was mostly new to me. It includes three stories (one is nonfiction and was later incorporated into Work), articles, a broadside, and a letter to an editor. These articles, etc. show Alcott’s activism in the causes of women’s suffrage and other rights for women, including educational and work opportunities for newly freed African and African-American girls and women. Through her necessary diplomatic words of the time and her sometimes Dickensian sarcasm, you could tell she did not suffer fools gladly.
I read the two other included novels when I was young and I loved them. If I reread them, I’ll come back to add reviews.
The section titled “Stories & Other Writings” was mostly new to me. It includes three stories (one is nonfiction and was later incorporated into Work), articles, a broadside, and a letter to an editor. These articles, etc. show Alcott’s activism in the causes of women’s suffrage and other rights for women, including educational and work opportunities for newly freed African and African-American girls and women. Through her necessary diplomatic words of the time and her sometimes Dickensian sarcasm, you could tell she did not suffer fools gladly.
April 1, 2019
“Work” - 5 stars
January 5, 2019
Louisa May Alcott is best known for the Little Women trilogy (Little Women, Little Men and Jo's Boys) but she had an extensive literary career beyond that. The novel Eight Cousins (another "young adult" story) centers on 12-year-old Rose Campbell, orphaned a year earlier after the death of her father and living with two great aunts while awaiting the arrival of her guardian, her uncle Alec. Rose had not lived near her family before, so she is also introduced to her seven male cousins. The story seemed out of date yet charming to me while I read it and follows several years in Rose's education and upbringing.
Rose in Bloom, the sequel to Eight Cousins, wasn't nearly as compelling to me. Obviously times are different, and I admired Rose's determination to put the fortune she inherited from her father to good use and decision not to be a frivolous fashion plate, she comes off very prudish. Now that she's 21, her Uncle Alec's continued determination to stick his nose in seemed more patronizing. Why should she need his approval to read a novel, no matter its morals? Shouldn't she make up her mind on her own? Moreover, it was obvious that one of the characters was going to perish as punishment for his moral failings. It did have good points but it tried to hard to show readers the "correct" way to live and love.
Rose in Bloom, the sequel to Eight Cousins, wasn't nearly as compelling to me. Obviously times are different, and I admired Rose's determination to put the fortune she inherited from her father to good use and decision not to be a frivolous fashion plate, she comes off very prudish. Now that she's 21, her Uncle Alec's continued determination to stick his nose in seemed more patronizing. Why should she need his approval to read a novel, no matter its morals? Shouldn't she make up her mind on her own? Moreover, it was obvious that one of the characters was going to perish as punishment for his moral failings. It did have good points but it tried to hard to show readers the "correct" way to live and love.
August 4, 2018
I have already written reviews of Eight Cousins, Rose In Bloom and Work. Now I have completed this whole volume which also contains short stories and other writings of Alcott. I was really amazed to read the chronology of her life and learn about her family and herself, all the moving around they did, all the things they tried, all the famous people (Thoreau, Emerson, etc.) they knew well. It was interesting to read how some of Alcott's characters were modeled on these well-known Americans. Alcott's account of the Concord centennial and how women who attended were treated was a real eye opener. Having read this book, I feel I know a lot about Louisa May Alcott, her passions and accomplishments, and have a lot of respect for her.
July 27, 2021
“Work” by Louisa May Alcott is deservedly little known. The experiences of Christie are autobiographical, taken from Alcott’s own experiences as a house servant, actress, governess, companion, and seamstress. None of these worked out well for Alcott, and the tone of the book is very melancholy, with a strong moralizing streak which makes one wish to tell Alcott, as the journal editor tells Jo in “Little Women”, “Morals don’t pay”.
The other two novels in this volume, “Eight Cousins” and “Rose in Bloom” avoid moralizing although the tone is moral, avoid gloom although dark elements are included. These two were favorites of mine as a girl, and still are.
The other two novels in this volume, “Eight Cousins” and “Rose in Bloom” avoid moralizing although the tone is moral, avoid gloom although dark elements are included. These two were favorites of mine as a girl, and still are.
February 11, 2022
I checked it out to read Eight Cousins and although it took me beyond 3 months to read a few hundred pages I enjoyed it. It did feel like it was written by a male as I didn't feel like I much insight into females unlike the Austen and Bronte books.
I will probably check it out again to read Rose in Bloom.
I will probably check it out again to read Rose in Bloom.
July 23, 2023
This was the only book I could find with Rose in Bloom, a sequel to Eight Cousins. Some of the other writings looked interesting, but I stuck just with the former. It got a little drawn out with the high society stuff but was refreshing to see Rose rise above the frivolity and egotism that goes with it. I wish I could speak as this author writes.
November 1, 2020
the original Women's Rights advocate. Should be required reading for anyone.
October 9, 2015
When I finished Eight Cousins, I was happy to see that the book I had on hold had come in... it's actually a compilation of L. M. Alcott's work. I spent the day devouring Rose in Bloom and the Chronology of Alcott's life at the back. I have learned that she wrote Eight Cousins while in bad health and had to take morphine in order to sleep. I've also discovered the Notes at the back of the book which references whole songs and poems from which the well-known, for the time, lyrics quote. I love the preface by Alcott which basically says she wrote this book just because.
"As authors may be supposed to know better than any one else what they intended to do when writing a book, I beg leave to say that there is no moral to this story. Rose is not designed for a model girl: and the Sequel was simply written in fulfillment of a promise; hoping to afford some amusement, and perhaps here and there a helpful hint, to other roses getting ready to bloom."
Marrying cousins is no longer a well received practice in America, but it was interesting to read and understand where the phrase, "duty to family" may have come from. Everyone is so openly discussing where Rose's wealth will go and it seemed a little vulgar, and I think that was the point. Still, it was great to see how the eight cousins grew up.
"As authors may be supposed to know better than any one else what they intended to do when writing a book, I beg leave to say that there is no moral to this story. Rose is not designed for a model girl: and the Sequel was simply written in fulfillment of a promise; hoping to afford some amusement, and perhaps here and there a helpful hint, to other roses getting ready to bloom."
Marrying cousins is no longer a well received practice in America, but it was interesting to read and understand where the phrase, "duty to family" may have come from. Everyone is so openly discussing where Rose's wealth will go and it seemed a little vulgar, and I think that was the point. Still, it was great to see how the eight cousins grew up.
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December 5, 2014Fiction A355v 2014
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews