Louisa May Alcott: Selected Fiction

by Louisa May Alcott, Madeleine B. Stern (Editor), Joel Myerson (Editor)

Book by Alcott, Louisa May

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

478 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2001

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

[Tinquerbelle]

1) The Rival Painters: A Tale of Rome
2) The Rival Prima Donnas
3) The Frost-King: or, The Power of Love
4) The Lady and the Woman
5) Love and Self-Love
6) Hope's Debut
7) Thrice Tempted
8) Perilous Play
9) M.L.
10) A Night
11) The Blue and the Gray, A Hospital Sketch

Selections from:
12) Moods
13) Work
14) A Modern Mephistopholes

15) The Sisters' Trial
16) A Modern Cinderella: or, The Little Old Shoe
17) Merry's Monthly Chat

Selections from:
18) Little Women
19) Little Men
20) Jo's Boys
21) Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag
22) Spinning-Wheel Stories
23) Lulu's Library
24) A Garland for Girls
25) An Old-Fashioned Girl
26) Eight Cousins
27) Rose in Bloom

28) Transcendental Wild Oats: A Chapter from an Unwritten Romance
29) How I Went Out to Service
30) Recollections of My Childhood

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of stories. It gave me a deeper appreciation of Louisa May Alcott as a writer and a person. She was a true pioneer in women's rights and writing. I had this book on my shelf for several years but I felt compelled to read it after I read Kelly O'Connor McNeely's book The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott. I recommend both books to anyone who wants to get a better understanding of the amazing woman.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Little Women was obviously her crowning achievement.

[Chrisanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excerpts and short tales... I like her complete books best. That being said-- I had forgotten the wholesome, healthy, charming way Alcott writes. More please. :)