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The Woman Behind Little Women
Henry Holt and Co.
November 2009
On Sale: October 27, 2009
384 pages
ISBN: 0805082999
EAN: 9780805082999
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
A vivid, energetic account of the life of Louisa May Alcott, whose work has delighted millions of readersLouisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses all aspects of Alcottβs life: the effect of her fatherβs self-indulgent utopian schemes; her familyβs chronic economic difficulties and frequent uprootings; her experience as a nurse in the Civil War; the loss of her health and frequent recourse to opiates in search of relief from migraines, insomnia, and symptomatic pain. Stories and details culled from Alcottβs journals; her equally rich letters to family, friends, publishers, and admiring readers; and the correspondence, journals, and recollections of her family, friends, and famous contemporaries provide the basis for this lively account of the authorβs classic rags-to-riches tale.Alcott would become the equivalent of a multimillionaire in her lifetime based on the astounding sales of her books, leaving contemporaries like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Henry James in the dust. This biography explores Alcottβs life in the context of her works, all of which are to some extent autobiographical. A fresh, modern take on this remarkable and prolific writer, who secretly authored pulp fiction, harbored radical abolitionist views, and completed heroic service as a Civil War nurse, Louisa May Alcott is in the end also the story of how the all-time beloved American classic Little Women came to be. This revelatory portrait will present the popular author as she was and as she has never been seen before.
 Media BuzzDiane Rehm Show - NPR - October 27, 2009
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