The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
Little Women

Little Women

Summary

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a classic novel loved by adults and children alike.

Come laugh and cry with the March family.

Meg - the sweet-tempered one. Jo - the smart one. Beth - the shy one. Amy - the sassy one.

Together they're the March sisters. Their father is away at war and times are difficult, but the bond between the sisters is strong. The family may not have much money, but that doesn't stop them from creating their own fun and forming a secret society. Through sisterly squabbles, happy times and sad, their four lives follow very different paths, and they discover that growing up is sometimes very hard to do...

***PLUS a behind-the-scenes journey, including an author profile, a guide to who's who, activities and more...***

Louisa May Alcott wrote her first novel, The Inheritance, at age seventeen, but it went unpublished for nearly 150 years until 1997, after two researchers (Joel Myerson and Daniel Shealy) stumbled across the handwritten manuscript in the Houghton Library at Harvard University. Of course, Ms. Alcott is best known for a different novel, Little Women, which she wrote in two parts. The first volume, alternately titled Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, was published in 1868, and the second volume, Good Wives, was published in 1869. Like Jo in Little Women, Louisa also wrote many "blood and thunder" tales, which were published in popular periodicals of the day. She did not openly claim authorship for many of these Gothic thriller stories, however: for some, she used the pseudonym, "A. M. Barnard"; for others, she chose to remain completely anonymous.

About the author

Louisa May Alcott

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.
Learn More

Sign up to the Puffin newsletter

Stories, ideas and giveaways to help you spark young imaginations