Work: A Stort Of Experience
Work: A Story of Experience, first published in 1873, is a semi-autobiographical novel by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, set in the times before and after the American Civil War.It is one of "several nineteenth-century novels [which] uncovers the changes in women's work in the new industrial era, as well as the dilemmas, tensions, and the meaning of that work".[1] The story depicts the struggles of a young woman trying to support herself. The main character, Christie Devon, works outside the home in a variety of different jobs, but the end of her story marks "the beginning of a new career as a voice and activist for other working women".The character David Sterling is loosely based on Alcott's friend, Henry David Thoreau.
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Jack And Jill
Louisa May Alcott
When best friends, Jack and Jill, tumble off their sled, their injuries cause them to be bedridden for many months. Their parents fill their days with the joys of Christmas preparations, a theatrical production and many other imaginative events.
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Pauline's Passion And Punishment
Louisa May Alcott
Her eyes came back from their long gaze and settled on him full of an intelligence which deepened his perplexity. "You have not learned to know me yet; death is not more inexorable or time more tireless than I. This week has seemed one of indolent delight to you. To me it has been one of constant vigilance and labor, for scarcely a look, act, or word of mine has been without effect.
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Under The Lilacs
Louisa May Alcott
Under the Lilacs is a children's novel by Louisa May Alcott, first published in 1878. The story is about two girls; Bab and Betty Moss; Miss Celia; a circus runaway, Ben Brown; and his dog Sancho.When Bab and Betty decide to have a tea party with their dolls a mysterious dog comes and steals their prized cake. The girls find a circus run-away, Ben Brown, hiding in their play barn. Ben is a horse master, so when the Mosses take the Ben in they find him work at a neighbor's house driving cows.Eventually Ben finds out his beloved father is dead. Miss Celia, a neighbor, comforts him and finally offers to let Ben stay with her and her fourteen-year-old brother Thornton.Many adventures and summer-happenings go on in Celia's house, as Ben slowly finds his place among his friends. Sancho gets lost, Ben is accused of stealing, Miss Celia gets hurt and Ben takes a wild ride on her horse, Lita. They have an archery competition, where Ben emerges as the hero. But a pleasant surprise is waiting for Ben in the end, and the story is an altogether heart - rendering tale of friendship and adventure, by celebrated authoress, Louisa May Alcott.
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Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters. The first volume, Little Women, was an immediate commercial and critical success, prompting the composition of the book's second volume, entitled Good Wives, which was also successful. Both books were first published as a single volume entitled Little Women in 1880. Alcott followed Little Women with two sequels, also featuring the March sisters: Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Little Women was a fiction novel for girls that veered from the normal writings for children, especially girls, at the time. Little Women has three major themes:" domesticity, work, and true love. All of them are interdependent and each is necessary to the achievement of a heroine’s individual identity."Little Women itself "has been read as a romance or as a quest, or both. It has been read as a family drama that validates virtue over wealth." Little Women has been read "as a means of escaping that life by women who knew its gender constraints only too well." Alcott "combines many conventions of the sentimental novel with crucial ingredients of Romantic children's fiction, creating a new form of which Little Women is a unique model." Elbert argued that within Little Women can be found the first vision of the "American Girl" and that her multiple aspects are embodied in the differing March sisters.
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Jo's Boys
Louisa May Alcott
This is a story of how the Little Men turned out. Will Tom be able to get Nan to marry him? Or will Nan turn him down? What about Dan? Does he ever marry? And what about the Princess? Will Mrs. Meg Brooke ever let Nat marry Daisy? Read the book to find out the rest of the story! For Jos Boys, which she intended to be the last in her series about the March family, Louisa May Alcott pulled out all the stops. It is with great fanfare that the beloved characters of former books make their last appearance. All sorts of incredible developments are described in the course of the novel-and some of them fairly stretch the imagination. My favorite is the emigration of the whole extended family to Plumfield: Meg has a house close by, Laurie and Amy have a mansion on an adjacent hill, and even Mr. March and Mr. Laurence have become neighbors to the school. Of course, this and all the rest make the story more fun. The school itself has become a college-a convenient twist that allows the characters from Little Men to still be in the same area years after they ought to have moved away. Though not all the Plumfield students make a second appearance, Alcotts famous favorites remain. A decade later, Demi is having trouble deciding on a career and declaring himself to a certain young lady. Tommy is in pursuit of his childhood sweetheart, Nan, who has vowed to be a spinster for life. Nat is sent to Germany, far away from his beloved Daisy, for musical training. Emil is shipwrecked, Dan tangles with the law, and young Ted gets into scrapes worthy of his namesakes youth. There is enough lovering and spooning here to make up for the lack in Little Men, but some characters brought in for the romance are ex machina. I loved this book, but I thought that little men and little Woman were better. Perhaps it is the long times span she took writing it.