Little Women

Louisa May Alcott

Little Women — Little Women is the classic coming-of-age tale of four sisters on their journey to adulthood. Though today it’s considered a classic, Little Women almost wasn’t written: Alcott wanted to publish a collection of short stories instead, but her publisher and her father pressed her to write a book that would appeal to a wide audience of young girls. The first volume was written quickly and published in 1868 to great success; Alcott composed the second just as quickly, and it appeared in 1869. Her journal records her initial reluctance to write this kind of story, and both she and her publisher found the opening chapters dull. The enthusiastic response to the book was a pleasant surprise. By 1927 it had been acknowledged as one of the most widely-read novels of the era, and remains widely read today.