Virago Modern Classic Book Club: Little Women

 

December Book Club

 

Virago Modern Classics Book Club

December 2019

Little Women

by Louisa May Alcott

 

Generations of readers have fallen in love with the March sisters. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other.

 

It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with “woman’s work,” including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing.

 

Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the “girl’s book” her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.

 

‘I like good strong words that mean something . . .’

Will you be reading along this month? Let us know using #VMCBookClub on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

 

 

Click here to discover what else we will be reading this year.