A Double Life: Newly Discovered Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott

by Louisa May Alcott, Madeleine B. Sterne (Editor, Introduction), Joel Myerson (Associate Editor)

A collection of previously undiscovered thrillers by the author of "Little Women" explores the exotic, the bizarre, and the shocking in stories considered too scandalous to by published in their time

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Literature

246 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

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

[Christina O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of Louisa May Alcott's sensation fiction is absolutely wild! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The three stars are for the final story of the five, which I quite liked. It's the one with the most good moments, and some surprisingly modern moments (great bit at the end!) and the most mature and feminist of the female protagonists. Unless you're a fast reader or a die-hard Alcott fan, you might want to skip the other stories in the collection. They were one star: boring, predictable, dated.

Stories included:
A Pair of Eyes, or Modern Magic
The Fate of the Forests
A double tragedy, An Actor’s story
Ariel: A legend of the lighthouse
Taming a Tatar

[Robin Livingston]

Reading the 5 stories back to back often felt repetitive as there are a lot of common themes between these stories. But! I felt like I learned a lot more about Lousia May Alcott as an author which was super cool.

[LeAnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Taming a Tartar” is the jewel of this collection but it’s worth reading the whole if you’re a fan of Alcott’s work or of 19th century thrillers.

[Mahala · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first story was good, the second awful, and I adored the last three

[Kressel Housman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who loved Little Women will want to read this book. It's a collection of five short stories Louisa May Alcott published under a pseudonym since they were a little too racy for her "Little Women" image. As you'd expect, classic author that she was, she penned some great short stories. My favorite is "Ariel: A Story By the Sea." Highly recommended.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Madeleine Stern is a remarkable literary historian and researcher, discovering Louisa May Alcott's secret life and tracking down her writings. The stories themselves are a marvelous illustration of the times, and cause you to wonder where and how Alcott researched her sensational thrillers. Stern is an amazing woman and I loved reading her biography.

[Jane Rutherford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories were just ok (old-fashioned thrillers and romances), but the fact that they were written by Louisa May Alcott and so different than what we know of her most famous works raised my rating. I did like the book as a whole.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feminism goes way back! You go, Louisa May!

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars