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Short Stories
Before she wrote Little Women — one of the most popular books for children ever written — Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) served during the Civil War as a volunteer nurse in Washington, D.C. Drawing on that episode in her life, she produced Hospital Sketches, a fictionalized account of her experiences at the military hospital in Georgetown.
This collection of five poignant short stories contains two pieces from Hospital Sketches, published in 1863: "Obtaining Supplies," recounting the obstacles Alcott's fictionalized persona, Tribulation Periwinkle, faced in gaining her independence and getting to Washington; and "A Night," a moving account of her encounter with a dying soldier. Also included are "My Contraband," a gripping tale of vengeance involving a Civil War nurse, her Confederate patient and his former slave; "Happy Women," a fictionalized essay about four "spinsters" with a positive attitude toward their marital status; and "How I Went Out to Service," an autobiographical sketch of a young woman's undaunted pursuit of financial independence.
Rich in their simple eloquence, these stories provide revealing glimpses of the concerns and literary techniques of one of America's most admired authors.
This collection of five poignant short stories contains two pieces from Hospital Sketches, published in 1863: "Obtaining Supplies," recounting the obstacles Alcott's fictionalized persona, Tribulation Periwinkle, faced in gaining her independence and getting to Washington; and "A Night," a moving account of her encounter with a dying soldier. Also included are "My Contraband," a gripping tale of vengeance involving a Civil War nurse, her Confederate patient and his former slave; "Happy Women," a fictionalized essay about four "spinsters" with a positive attitude toward their marital status; and "How I Went Out to Service," an autobiographical sketch of a young woman's undaunted pursuit of financial independence.
Rich in their simple eloquence, these stories provide revealing glimpses of the concerns and literary techniques of one of America's most admired authors.
64 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1968
15 people are currently reading
248 people want to read
About the author
Louisa May Alcott
4,060 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 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 13, 2017
Histrionic, predictable, Victorian nonsense.
August 15, 2012
I’m really not disappointed with this book. I particularly enjoyed the two last short stories ‘My Contraband’, and, ‘How I went out to service’.
In both stories, the protagonist is a woman. One clearly deals with the theme of slavery in which, Miss Dane, the nurse is involved. Besides, Louisa makes a reference to ‘Uncle Tom’, which I suppose, is the famous book by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The other is about the burning desire of an 18-year-old girl in search of independence
of her parents, who finally leaves home when she finds a job as a housewife in the Reverend Josephus’s mansion.
I really enjoyed this book.
In both stories, the protagonist is a woman. One clearly deals with the theme of slavery in which, Miss Dane, the nurse is involved. Besides, Louisa makes a reference to ‘Uncle Tom’, which I suppose, is the famous book by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The other is about the burning desire of an 18-year-old girl in search of independence
of her parents, who finally leaves home when she finds a job as a housewife in the Reverend Josephus’s mansion.
I really enjoyed this book.
April 1, 2009
The stories were not amazing. But I was blown away by the author. I read "How I went out to service", "Happy Women", and "My Contraband". I thought this woman was basically a writer for young girls. Lord, was I wrong. This is a woman of strong beliefs, standing against her culture, and writing with passion.
I may have to go back and read Little Woman and Jo's Boys.
A worthy read.
I may have to go back and read Little Woman and Jo's Boys.
A worthy read.
September 10, 2024
A theme I hope to establish in my literary life is to “Read Far and Wide” - as is often recommended by the enduring & faithful minds of the academia and bibliophile realms at large. In addition to “Far and Wide”, I’d add the importance of reading “Deep“ into an authors bibliography to really become established in their beliefs as a person and not just as a heralded writer.
The lesser known short stories of Louisa May Alcott touched me deeply. I end this series, a glimpse into her adolescent and civil war years, with an understanding of the influence that swayed her heralded classics to gain such loyal readership. Her work will remain in the “re-read” section of my personal library.
The lesser known short stories of Louisa May Alcott touched me deeply. I end this series, a glimpse into her adolescent and civil war years, with an understanding of the influence that swayed her heralded classics to gain such loyal readership. Her work will remain in the “re-read” section of my personal library.
October 2, 2023
Oh, to fall in love with Alcott's children's literature is great; but to read her fiction (autofiction?) for adults was another treat altogether.
August 13, 2021
The short stories "My Contraband" and "How I Went Out to Service" are my favourite. The Hospital Sketches had some good humour in them and were a nice start to this collection. "Happy Women" just did nothing for me... thank god it was the shortest of the bunch.
November 7, 2024
Alcott's writing is very entertaining. Being a privileged rich white woman of her era, she expresses herself with ease. Her ideas about the world are clear and liberal even for today (which says a lot about where we are in 2024). However, I think some of the stories, specially the first and last, do show how her social class did not allow her to fully understand other people around her. I wouldn't expect her to. I don't expect anyone past or present to fully understand every situation everyone is going through, but her comments often felt classist even when defending poor people.
December 28, 2025
I’ll admit i picked this up cause i needed something quick to read to make my goal for the year and this was the shortest book on my shelf. i didn’t know what to expect in this collection and didn’t feel much while reading through most stories aside from mild interest, but “A Night” specifically moved me to tears. i had tears streaming down my face reading that one and it took me so off guard.
My Contraband was the next most interesting, but the others didn’t move me nearly as much as A Night.
overall it was a fine and quick read and i’m glad i picked it up
My Contraband was the next most interesting, but the others didn’t move me nearly as much as A Night.
overall it was a fine and quick read and i’m glad i picked it up
April 20, 2022
These few short stories show a wider range of Alcott's work than I had previously been aware of. One story is a personal account, another is truly an essay (bravely encouraging women not to marry except for love), and one story involves a murderous plot. It's nothing I'd add to my library; the preponderance of English learners makes it not likely they would follow the older uses of words such as gay, intercourse, and contraband, to name just a few. Nonetheless, an interesting array of work.
February 14, 2019
This was a charming book to read. Alcott's style is that of respect to the reader. She doesn't insult their intelligence with useless details. The stories were well written and entertaining. I reccomend this if you need something quick to read.
January 4, 2019
I liked them, very slice of life stories.
August 23, 2020
Powerful, entertaining and full of life wisdom. Classic Alcott.
January 1, 2022
So enjoyable! Each short story was so different from the next, and they pricked various emotions. This was a charming collection.
Content: Catholicism, expletives, tobacco
Content: Catholicism, expletives, tobacco
January 1, 2025
Boring and I didnt care about any of it, didn't finish it
October 20, 2008
Short Stories is a small collection of short stories were written by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888).
Louisa May Alcott served during the Civil War as a nurse in a military hospital in Georgetown so she wrote Hospital Sketches and other short stories using her experience to produce this great Literature .
When I started reading the first story in this book, I realized that the language which is used in this book is very hard for me to understand quickly, but I continued reading until I read a long sentence which I repeated many times, not because I didn’t understand it, but because of its meaning; the sentence is “ .. but I maintain that the soldier who cries when his mother says Good Bye is the boy who fight best, and die bravest, when the time comes, or go back to her better than he went..”
Actually, I still live in two places, half here and half in my home country, so I think that it is ordinary for me at this stage to try to put myself in any story talks about the one who leaves his home and travel and say bye to his family and this is the reason why I didn’t focus on the other events in this story and concentrated on this idea that the girl (Martha Struggles) leaves her family to do something she aims to do. In fact, I didn’t understand the meaning of this story because I thought a lot about that part of the story and analyzed it and tried to put this part into my own life and experience.
At least, I learned that some points seem to be negative things in our lives, but in fact they are positive and show that we are strong and right; these things are the basic humans' emotions and feelings..
________________________________________________________
Because this book has more than one story, I decided to choose “Happy women’ which is the one before the last story in this book. It is a very short story which I liked its name at the beginning and loved it after I had finished it.
In this story, the writer discuss the importance of marriage for women and what does success mean for a woman. The writer talks about many women as examples for unmarried but successful and happy women who refused to get married in order to attain their goals and do what they want to do and not to be like any other woman who gets married and becomes a wife and a mother.
At first, I refused the writer’s idea because I thought she was saying that women don’t need to get married, but I changed my mind as soon as I understood that her idea was that women don’t have to be afraid if they didn’t have a good chance to be married to good men.
In my opinion, although I understand the writers idea and admire it, I think that women still have the chance to be successful in their lives when they are married. Moreover, I think that women has special thing which is they have their own opportunity to succeed, but they also have the men opportunity to succeed! I mean that men can’t succeed without women, so she is more powerful and successful who has her own success but also has her family. We used to say “behind every great man there is great woman“, so to help her children and husband to succeed, this is a big honor and success for every woman; to be called a great mother and a good wife is also a huge and special success that requires efforts which many men can’t do.
Louisa May Alcott served during the Civil War as a nurse in a military hospital in Georgetown so she wrote Hospital Sketches and other short stories using her experience to produce this great Literature .
When I started reading the first story in this book, I realized that the language which is used in this book is very hard for me to understand quickly, but I continued reading until I read a long sentence which I repeated many times, not because I didn’t understand it, but because of its meaning; the sentence is “ .. but I maintain that the soldier who cries when his mother says Good Bye is the boy who fight best, and die bravest, when the time comes, or go back to her better than he went..”
Actually, I still live in two places, half here and half in my home country, so I think that it is ordinary for me at this stage to try to put myself in any story talks about the one who leaves his home and travel and say bye to his family and this is the reason why I didn’t focus on the other events in this story and concentrated on this idea that the girl (Martha Struggles) leaves her family to do something she aims to do. In fact, I didn’t understand the meaning of this story because I thought a lot about that part of the story and analyzed it and tried to put this part into my own life and experience.
At least, I learned that some points seem to be negative things in our lives, but in fact they are positive and show that we are strong and right; these things are the basic humans' emotions and feelings..
________________________________________________________
Because this book has more than one story, I decided to choose “Happy women’ which is the one before the last story in this book. It is a very short story which I liked its name at the beginning and loved it after I had finished it.
In this story, the writer discuss the importance of marriage for women and what does success mean for a woman. The writer talks about many women as examples for unmarried but successful and happy women who refused to get married in order to attain their goals and do what they want to do and not to be like any other woman who gets married and becomes a wife and a mother.
At first, I refused the writer’s idea because I thought she was saying that women don’t need to get married, but I changed my mind as soon as I understood that her idea was that women don’t have to be afraid if they didn’t have a good chance to be married to good men.
In my opinion, although I understand the writers idea and admire it, I think that women still have the chance to be successful in their lives when they are married. Moreover, I think that women has special thing which is they have their own opportunity to succeed, but they also have the men opportunity to succeed! I mean that men can’t succeed without women, so she is more powerful and successful who has her own success but also has her family. We used to say “behind every great man there is great woman“, so to help her children and husband to succeed, this is a big honor and success for every woman; to be called a great mother and a good wife is also a huge and special success that requires efforts which many men can’t do.
July 17, 2013
There were 5 stories collected in the unabridged Dover Thrift edition of Louisa May Alcott's shorter writings. Most of these stories were based on Alcott's own experience. My favorite story in the collection was called "A Night" which spoke of Alcott's experiences while being a nurse in the Civil War. Alcott tells the story of John, who was mortally wounded, but keeps his good humor and kind spirit up until his death. I also enjoyed the very short story, "Happy Women," which is a kind of letter, arguing that being a so-called "old maid" really isn't as bad as society makes it out to be.
August 10, 2015
What a wonderful little book. I never realized that Ms. Alcott was an early feminist. "Happy Women" ably depicts how women don't need a husband to lead a fulfilling life. Even now, some people can't understand this truth. Better to be single than to settle and marry without love. I would say, however, that this is more an essay than a short story, but I'm glad it is included in the collection.
"My Contraband" is my favorite, fairly complex for the short length. A story which also reveals Ms. Alcott's progressive ideas. A quick, enjoyable and enlightening read.
"My Contraband" is my favorite, fairly complex for the short length. A story which also reveals Ms. Alcott's progressive ideas. A quick, enjoyable and enlightening read.
September 17, 2012
This is one Book which with its 5 Super collection of stories, gonna make you realize why we Louisa Lovers loves her so much!
I dont know why they are called stories, when they are direct reflection of Louisa's personal life. Seriously, In this book, Louisa opens herself so much that I felt I was reading her autobiography! Books which makes my wet, I Love them more than anything. :)
I dont know why they are called stories, when they are direct reflection of Louisa's personal life. Seriously, In this book, Louisa opens herself so much that I felt I was reading her autobiography! Books which makes my wet, I Love them more than anything. :)
December 30, 2013
I loved all the short stories in this book but "Happy Women" in particular was amazing in it's simplicity. Considering it was written in the 1800s it just made me fall in love with Louisa May Alcott all over again.
July 26, 2015
Even though this book was only 50 pages long, I found it incredibly boring. I am really glad I read "Little Women" before this book. "Little Women" is much better.
February 1, 2016
Pretty good! A quick read, very easy to get into.
July 11, 2016
This is my first foray into Louisa May Alcott's work, and I'm pretty impressed by her writing ability. I found myself intrigued by a lot of moments in each piece. Not anything remarkable, though.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews