Fiction · 1868
Little Women
Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March grow up in a New England household while their father is away serving as a chaplain in the Civil War. Louisa May Alcott drew on her own family for the story, published in two parts in 1868 and 1869 and here presented complete.
The book was an immediate success and has never been out of print. Its second daughter, the writer Jo, has been the point of identification for generations of readers, and its plain account of work, money, illness and ambition in a family of women set the pattern for a whole genre.
Bibliomancer presents both parts in a single volume.
Contents
- Part 1
- Chapter One — Playing Pilgrims
- Chapter Two — A Merry Christmas
- Chapter Three — The Laurence Boy
- Chapter Four — Burdens
- Chapter Five — Being Neighborly
- Chapter Six — Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful
- Chapter Seven — Amy’s Valley of Humiliation
- Chapter Eight — Jo Meets Apollyon
- Chapter Nine — Meg Goes to Vanity Fair
- Chapter Ten — The P.C. And P.O
- Chapter Eleven — Experiments
- Chapter Twelve — Camp Laurence
- Chapter Thirteen — Castles in the Air
- Chapter Fourteen — Secrets
- Chapter Fifteen — A Telegram
- Chapter Sixteen — Letters
- Chapter Seventeen — Little Faithful
- Chapter Eighteen — Dark Days
- Chapter Nineteen — Amy’s Will
- Chapter Twenty — Confidential
- Chapter Twenty-One — Laurie Makes Mischief, and Jo Makes Peace
- Chapter Twenty-Two — Pleasant Meadows
- Chapter Twenty-Three — Aunt March Settles the Question
- Part 2
- Chapter Twenty-Four — Gossip
- Chapter Twenty-Five — The First Wedding
- Chapter Twenty-Six — Artistic Attempts
- Chapter Twenty-Seven — Literary Lessons
- Chapter Twenty-Eight — Domestic Experiences
- Chapter Twenty-Nine — Calls
- Chapter Thirty — Consequences
- Chapter Thirty-One — Our Foreign Correspondent
- Chapter Thirty-Two — Tender Troubles
- Chapter Thirty-Three — Jo’s Journal
- Chapter Thirty-Four — Friend
- Chapter Thirty-Five — Heartache
- Chapter Thirty-Six — Beth’s Secret
- Chapter Thirty-Seven — New Impressions
- Chapter Thirty-Eight — On the Shelf
- Chapter Thirty-Nine — Lazy Laurence
- Chapter Forty — The Valley of the Shadow
- Chapter Forty-One — Learning to Forget
- Chapter Forty-Two — All Alone
- Chapter Forty-Three — Surprises
- Chapter Forty-Four — My Lord and Lady
- Chapter Forty-Five — Daisy and Demi
- Chapter Forty-Six — Under the Umbrella
- Chapter Forty-Seven — Harvest Time
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About this edition
The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.
Part of Women Writers, Victorian Fiction.
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About the author
1832–1888 · Victorian
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, the daughter of the transcendentalist educator Bronson Alcott, with Emerson and Thoreau as family friends. She worked as a teacher, seamstress and Civil War nurse (Hospital Sketches, 1863) and wrote sensational stories under a pseudonym before Little Women (1868–69), drawn from her own family, made her famous. Little Men (1871) and Jo’s Boys (1886) followed. She was active in abolition and women’s suffrage.
Adjacent records
