Little Women

By Louisa May Alcott

They hate each other, love each other, battle and protect each other: they are sisters. JO: The hot-tempered rebel who adores pet rats and writing-but detests everything about being a girl. MEG: the high-energy romantic who loves love- and is bitter about all she can't own. BETH: the timid, mousey invalid, terrified of everything-except kittens, dolls...and music. AMY: the spoiled beauty princess who schemes to have the life of the rich and famous.

Different as night and day, light and dark; but together they face all of life's agony and love's magic. For despite poverty and war, the March sisters have all they need to survive: They have each other.

In all truthfulness, I never intended to read this book because I thought it would be rather dull and tedious. I've long been a fan of the movie made back in the nineties and loved dear Jo as she was an aspiring writer like myself. But reading the book was, like nearly always, much better and more gratifying than the movie. It has a sweetness and a loving tone as you are drawn into the life of the March family almost as another silent sister. I adored the simple goodness of the book and it left me feeling comfortable and wanting to be better; a sign of a truly great novel. I am glad that I found this book lying on a shelf in my basement and decided 'why not?' It brought a lot of smiles, much warmth, and determination on my part to be a little better in spite of myself. This book is written especially for girls and I dare say that it would be very enjoyable for mothers and daughters to read aloud together. It was altogether a lovely novel.