Louisa preferred to play the 'lurid' parts in these plays, 'the villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful queens.'Īt 15 years of age in 1847, the poverty that plagued her family troubled her, who vowed: 'I will do something by and by. She and her sisters often acted out her melodramatic stories of her rich imagination for friends. and no girl if she refused to climb trees, leap fences.'

Like Jo March, her character in Little Women, young Louisa, a tomboy, claimed: 'No boy could be my friend till I had beaten him in a race. Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and Concord, Massachusetts, where visits to library of Ralph Waldo Emerson, excursions into nature with Henry David Thoreau, and theatricals in the barn at Hillside (now 'Wayside') of Nathaniel Hawthorne enlightened her days. Philosopher-teacher Amos Bronson Alcott, educated his four daughters, Anna, Louisa, Elizabeth and May and Abigail May, wife of Amos, reared them on her practical Christianity. The Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation (1867)Ī Long Fatal Love Chase (1866 – first published 1995)

Set during Gilded Age America, this 9,000 word story provides romance, the idyllic world of a time gone by, and characters who served as the inspiration for her future masterpieces.People best know American writer Louisa May Alcott for Little Women (1868), her largely autobiographical novel. According to scholars, Aunt Nellie’s Diary was written when she was quite young nevertheless Alcott displays sharp psychological insight into the characters who inhabit the seemingly carefree world of picnics, masked balls, and cozy carriage rides.Īlcott scholar Professor Daniel Shealy provides an introduction which looks at the historical and biographical context of this gem. Her niece’s beautiful, worldly friend is staying with them over the summer, as is a young man-Nellie’s friend’s handsome son. Want more Alcott? In our 60th issue, we’re proud to present an unpublished Louisa May Alcott story, Aunt Nellie’s Diary, published here for the first time, it presents the perspective of a single and insightful forty-year-old woman who is responsible for the care of her teenage niece. “Life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom.” This Little Women design is part of the Puffin in Bloom collection – illustrations by Anna Bond.Įach purchase helps to fund literacy programs and book donations to communities in need.

Little women puffin in bloom