Louisa May Alcott Popular Books

Louisa May Alcott Biography & Facts

Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many well-known intellectuals of the day, including Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.Alcott's family suffered from financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used pen names such as A. M. Barnard, under which she wrote lurid short stories and sensation novels for adults that focused on passion and revenge.Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. It has been adapted for stage plays, films, and television many times. Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She also spent her life active in reform movements such as temperance and women's suffrage. She died from a stroke in Boston on March 6, 1888, just two days after her father's death. Early life Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, which is now part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on her father's 33rd birthday. Her parents were transcendentalist and educator Amos Bronson Alcott and social worker Abigail "Abby" May. She was the second of four daughters: Anna Bronson Alcott was the eldest, while Elizabeth Sewall Alcott and Abigail May Alcott were the two youngest. As a child, she was a tomboy who preferred boys' games. The family moved to Boston in 1834, where Alcott's father established the experimental Temple School and joined the Transcendental Club with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Bronson Alcott's opinions on education, tough views on child-rearing, and moments of mental instability shaped young Alcott's mind with a desire to achieve perfection, a goal of the transcendentalists. His attitudes towards Alcott's wild and independent behavior and his inability to provide for his family created conflict between Bronson Alcott, his wife, and their daughters. Abigail reportedly resented her husband's inability to recognize her sacrifices and related his thoughtlessness to the larger issue of the inequality of sexes. She passed this recognition and desire to redress wrongs done to women on to Louisa. In 1840, after several setbacks with Temple School, the Alcott family moved to a cottage on 2 acres (0.81 ha) of land, situated along the Sudbury River in Concord, Massachusetts. The three years they spent at the rented Hosmer Cottage were described as idyllic. By 1843, the Alcott family moved, along with six other members of the Consociate Family, to the Utopian Fruitlands community for a brief interval in 1843–1844. After the collapse of the Utopian Fruitlands, they rented rooms and finally, with Abigail May Alcott's inheritance and financial help from Emerson, they purchased a homestead in Concord. They moved into the home they named "Hillside" on April 1, 1845, but had moved on by 1852, when it was sold to Nathaniel Hawthorne, who renamed it The Wayside. Moving 21 times in 30 years, the Alcotts returned to Concord once again in 1857 and moved into Orchard House, a two-story clapboard farmhouse, in the spring of 1858. Alcott's early education included lessons from the naturalist Henry David Thoreau who inspired her to write the poem Thoreau's Flute based on her time at Walden Pond. She was primarily educated by her father, who was strict and believed in "the sweetness of self-denial." She also received some instruction from writers and educators such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, and Julia Ward Howe, all of whom were family friends. She later described these early years in a newspaper sketch entitled "Transcendental Wild Oats." The sketch was reprinted in the volume Silver Pitchers (1876), which relates the family's experiment in "plain living and high thinking" at Fruitlands. She was also instructed by Sophia Foord, who lived with the family for a time, and whom she would later eulogize.Poverty made it necessary for Alcott to go to work at an early age as a teacher, seamstress, governess, domestic helper, and writer. Her sisters also supported the family, working as seamstresses, while their mother took on social work among the Irish immigrants. Only the youngest, Abigail, was able to attend public school. Due to all of these pressures, writing became a creative and emotional outlet for Alcott. Her first book was Flower Fables (1849), a selection of tales originally written for Ellen Emerson, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Alcott is quoted as saying "I wish I was rich, I was good, and we were all a happy family this day" and was driven in life not to be poor. In 1847, Alcott and her family served as station masters on the Underground Railroad, when they housed a fugitive slave for one week and had discussions with Frederick Douglass. Alcott read and admired the Declaration of Sentiments published by the Seneca Falls Convention on women's rights, advocating for women's suffrage and became the first woman to register to vote in Concord, Massachusetts in a school board election. The 1850s were hard times for the Alcotts, and in 1854 Louisa found solace at The Boston Theatre where she wrote The Rival Prima Donnas, which she later burned due to a quarrel between the actresses over who would play what role. At one point in 1857, unable to find work and filled with despair, Alcott contemplated suicide. During that year, she read The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell and found many parallels between Charlotte Brontë's life and her own. In 1858, her younger sister Elizabeth died and her older sister Anna married a man named John Pratt. Alcott considered these events catalysts to breaking up their sisterhood. Life in Dedham Alcott's mother, Abba, ran an "intelligence office" to help the destitute find employment. When James Richardson came to Abba in the winter of 1851 seeking a companion for his frail sister who could also help out with some light housekeeping, Alcott volunteered to serve in the house filled with books, music, artwork, and good company on Highland Avenue. Alcott may have imagined the experience as something akin to being a heroine in a Gothic novel as Richardson described their home in a letter as stately but decrepit.Richardson's sister, Elizabeth, was 40 years old and su.... Discover the Louisa May Alcott popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Louisa May Alcott books.

Best Seller Louisa May Alcott Books of 2024

  • A Christmas Dream and Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    A Christmas Dream and Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    "First, my child, what do you want most?" asked the godmother, quite in the fairybook style. "To be loved by everybody," answered Becky. "Good!" said the ca...

  • Louisa and the Missing Heiress synopsis, comments

    Louisa and the Missing Heiress

    Anna Maclean

    Long before she will achieve fame as the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott is writing stories of a more dark and mysterious nature. But nothing prepares her for the role of...

  • A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy synopsis, comments

    A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy

    Madeleine L'Engle

    Fifty years ago, Madeleine L'Engle introduced the world to A Wrinkle in Time and the wonderful and unforgettable characters Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, and their friend Calvin O...

  • The Vanishing Type synopsis, comments

    The Vanishing Type

    Ellery Adams

    Entertainment Weekly hails the Secret, Book, and Scone Society series by the beloved New York Times bestselling author as “a love letter to reading.” In this entrancing new story, ...

  • The Christmas Stories of Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    The Christmas Stories of Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    Many great writers are defined and remembered by one piece of work that embeds itself into the culture and continues to be enjoyed by every generation since its publication. For ...

  • The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott

    Kelly O'Connor McNees

    A richly imagined, remarkably written story of the woman who created Little Womenand how love changed her in ways she never expected. Countless readers have fallen in love with Li...

  • The Complete Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    The Complete Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    The Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott! The Complete Novels, Short Stories, Drama, Poetry and NonFiction Including 'Little Women'! The Ultimate Collection of Louisa May Alcott In...

  • Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    This early work is a collection of Louisa May Alcott‘s letters, journals, and notes. Published a year after Alcott's death this is a truly unparalleled collection of her personal c...

  • Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott’s charming tales of ‘Little Women’ have delighted readers across the world since their 1868 publication, but she was also an author of sensational thrillers, humo...

  • The Life and Times of Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    The Life and Times of Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott is often consider one of America’s greatest authorsbut what inspired her to write? Discover it here in this biography about the life and times of Alcott.

  • Little Women synopsis, comments

    Little Women

    Louisa May Alcott

    Meg is the eldest and on the brink of love. Then there's tomboy Jo who longs to be a writer. Sweetnatured Beth always puts others first, and finally there's Amy, the younge...

  • Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    Louisa May Alcott

    Harriet Reisen

    PBS and HBO documentary scriptwriter Harriet Reisen reveals the extraordinary woman behind the beloved American classic as never before. Louisa May Alcott is the perfect gift for f...

  • Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    Louisa May Alcott

    Susan Cheever

    Louisa May Alcott never intended to write Little Women. She had dismissed her publisher’s pleas for such a novel. Written out of necessity to support her family, the book had an as...

  • Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    Louisa May Alcott

    Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney

    Published in 1889, this biography of Louisa May Alcott tells stories of her childhood, parents and success of her literary career.

  • Mrs. Everything synopsis, comments

    Mrs. Everything

    Jennifer Weiner

    From Jennifer Weiner, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Who Do You Love and In Her Shoes comes a smart, thoughtful, and timely exploration of two sisters’ lives from the ...

  • The Complete Christmas Books of Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    The Complete Christmas Books of Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    eartnow presents to you the Louisa May Alcott Christmas collection with the complete novels and stories author dedicated to her most beloved holiday: Merry Christmas A Christmas Dr...

  • Louisa May Alcott her Life, Letters, and Journals synopsis, comments

    Louisa May Alcott her Life, Letters, and Journals

    Ednah Dow Cheney

    Published in 1889, this biography of the American novelist and poet Louisa May Alcott (18321888), best known for her novel Little Women (1868), was written by the Bostonian writer,...

  • The Collected Works of Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    The Collected Works of Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    The Collected Works of Louisa May Alcott is a collection of classic novels by one of the greatest novelists in history. The included works of Louisa May Alcott are Little Women, An...

  • The Collected Works of Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    The Collected Works of Louisa May Alcott

    Louisa May Alcott

    This comprehensive eBook presents the complete works or all the significant works the Œuvre of this famous and brilliant writer in one ebook 13.000 pages easytoread and easytona...

  • March synopsis, comments

    March

    Geraldine Brooks

    Winner of the Pulitzer Prizea powerful love story set against the backdrop of the Civil War, from the author of The Secret Chord.From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Wom...

  • Louisa May Alcott synopsis, comments

    Louisa May Alcott

    Lurabel Harlow

    This 1889 volume offers a brief biography of Alcott.

  • The Other Alcott synopsis, comments

    The Other Alcott

    Elise Hooper

    A People Magazine and POPSUGAR pick! “[May's] adventures illuminate the world of intrepid female artists in the late 1800s […] The Other Alcott comes alive in its development of th...