Little Women

Louisa May Alcott
Little Women
1868

Little Women is the delightful story of the four March girls and their approach towards womanhood and is the heartwarming story of this family that has thrilled generations of readers. It is the story of four sisters--Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth-- and of the courage, humor and ingenuity they display to survive poverty and the absence of their father during the Civil War.

Meg, the eldest and most beautiful, shrugs off her vanity and social ambition, discovering fulfilment in romantic love. Boyish Jo on the other hand, with her comptent of all 'lovering', turns impetuously towards writing for solace. Gentle Beth rejects wordly interests, prefering to devote her life to her family, to the joy of music and to timidly aiding all who suffer in life. Amy, the youngest and most imperfect of the March girls, continually tries to overcome her selfishness and girlish pretensions, though she has a hard task before her.

The progress of these four 'little women' is narrated along the lines of Bunyan's pilgrim, and are shown how - encountering struggles and learning important lessons along the way - each one attains her own Celestial City.