Louisa May Alcott was born on 29 November 1832 in Pennsylvania. Her father was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau. Alcott started selling stories in order to help provide financial support for her family. Her first book was
Flower Fables (1854). She worked as a nurse during the American Civil War and in 1863 she published
Hospital Sketches, which was based on her experiences.
Little Women was published in 1868 and was based on her life growing up with her three sisters. She followed it with three sequels,
Good Wives (1869),
Little Men (1871) and
Jo's Boys (1886) and she also wrote other books for both children and adults. Louisa May Alcott was an abolitionist and a campaigner for women's rights. She died on 6 March 1888.
Your sister might be the kindred soul who knows you best, or the most alien being in your household; she might enrage you or inspire you; she might be your fiercest competitor or closest co-conspirator, but she'll always share with you a totally unique bond. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are four of the most famous sisters in literature, and these stories of the joys and heartaches they share are a touching celebration of the special ties of sisterhood.
Selected from the books Little Women and Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott
VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.
A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human
Also in the Vintage Minis series:
Fatherhood by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Motherhood by Helen Simpson
Babies by Anne Enright
Love by Jeanette Winterson
Six generations of readers have found in the story of the March family universal truths about girls, families and growing upImagine our joy when Vintage announced that it is publishing a collection of easily digestible books from the world’s most celebrated writers on the experiences that make us human… They look good and read well. That’s win/win in our book.
