Little Women (Bantam Classics) - Softcover

Alcott, Louisa May

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553212753 ISBN 13: 9780553212754

Publisher: Bantam Classics, 1983

Synopsis

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

It is no surprise that Little Women, the adored classic of four devoted sisters, was loosely based on Louisa May Alcott’s own life. In fact, Alcott drew from her own personality to create a heroine unlike any seen before: Jo, willful, headstrong, and undoubtedly the backbone of the March family. Follow the sisters from innocent adolescence to sage adulthood, with all the joy and sorrow of life in between, and fall in love with them and this endearing story. Praised by Madeleine Stern as “a book on the American home, and hence universal in its appeal,” Little Women has been an avidly read tale for generations.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Little Women is one of the best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I. Part II, chronicles Meg's joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo's struggle to become a writer, Beth's tragedy, and Amy's artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louise May Alcott's childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.

From the Back Cover:

This American classic is as fresh and meaningful today as it was when it was first written in the 19th century. Largely based on the author's own childhood, Little Women is a timeless tale of the four young March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—who grow to maturity in their mother's tender but strong care. As different in their personalities as they are alike in their devotion to each other, the girls vow to support their beloved mother, Marmee, by behaving their best while Father is away, serving as an army chaplain in the Civil War.
Literary-minded tomboy Jo develops a fast friendship with the boy next door, and pretty Meg, the eldest, finds romance; frail and affectionate Beth fills the house with music, and little Amy, the youngest, seeks beauty with all the longing of an artist's soul. Although poor in material wealth, the family possesses an abundance of love, friendship, and imaginative gifts that captivate readers time and again.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Classics
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0553212753
• ISBN 13: 9780553212754
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 505