Louisa May Alcott, página 6 de 38

'Rich or poor, we will keep together and be happy in one another' Christmas won't be the same this year for Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, as their father is away fighting in the Civil War, and the family has fallen on hard times. But though they may be poor, life for the four March sisters is rich with colour, as they play games, put on wild theatricals, make new friends, argue, grapple with their vices, learn from their mistakes, nurse each other through sickness and disappointments, and get into all sorts of trouble. BACKSTORY: Learn all about the author's life and how it inspired her famous story, and find out which of the March sisters you most resemble!

"Set in a small New England town during the Civil War years and Reconstruction, Little Women; or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868-69) introduces Alcott's remarkable heroines, the March sisters, and above all her alter ego Jo March, with her literary ambition and independent spirit. The novel chronicles the episodes, large and small, of the sisters' progress toward adulthood: their amateur theatricals, sibling rivalries and reconciliations, friendships and romance, lessons about work and charity, and the loss of loved ones." "Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871) extends the March family saga. Jo - now married to the good-natured Professor Bhaer, and with sons of her own - has become the unflappable matron of an extended family at Plumfield, a school the Bhaers have founded with Aunt March's legacy. Jo's rambunctious youngsters grow up in an atmosphere full of high spirits and misadventure - a world enlivened by Alcott's unique powers of observation and sympathy." In Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out (1886), her final novel, Alcott returns to the familiar precincts of Plumfield. Ten years later, Jo's pupils have started to make their way in the world, and find themselves tested: Josie longs to be an actress; Emil, now a sailor, is shipwrecked; Dan, out West, lands in prison; Nat, studying music in Germany, in tempted into living beyond his means. Faced with new obstacles, they look back on the lessons learned at home, and begin to appreciate the real value of their Plumfield education.

Recuperación del texto íntegro, de 1868, que narra las vidas de estas cuatro hermanas que han marcado a varias generaciones de mujeres.

The good-natured March girls - Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy - manage to lead interesting lives despite Fathers absence at war and the familys lack of money. Whether theyre making plans for putting on a play or forming a secret society, their gaiety is infectious and even Laurie next door is swept up in their enthusiasm. Written from Louisa May Alcotts own experiences, this is a remarkable story.

Enmarcada en el escenario de una aristocrática mansión de la Inglaterra rural decimonónica, ésta es la obra juvenil de la autora del clásico Mujercitas. Escrita en 1849 con la frescura e ingenuidad de los diecisiete años, la novela describe un mundo de románticas ensoñaciones, de personajes arquetípicos y conflictos pasionales, donde, al final, triunfa la virtud. Lady Hamilton, una viuda altiva pero de espíritu ecuánime, preside el hogar donde conviven sus jóvenes hijos, Amy y Arthur, su sobrina Ida, una huérfana pérfida y ambiciosa, y Edith Adelon, una virginal muchachita italiana que lord Hamilton rescató de un orfanato durante un viaje por Italia. Cuando viene a pasar con ellos la temporada veraniega un amigo del joven Hamilton, lord Percy, su entrada en el pequeño mundo de la mansión desatará pasiones y envidias entre las jóvenes habitantes de la casa.

Meet the March sisters: the talented and tomboyish Jo, the beautiful Meg, the frail Beth, and the spoiled Amy, as they pass through the years between girlhood and womanhood. A lively portrait of growing up in the 19th century with lasting vitality and enduring charm.

Little Women is one of the best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I. Part II, chronicles Meg's joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo's struggle to become a writer, Beth's tragedy, and Amy's artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louise May Alcott's childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.

'Mujercitas me dio una idea clara de lo que sería mi vida cuando yo todavía era una chiquilla: me propuse ser Jo, y como ella escribiría; para imitarla la empecé a redactar cuentos...'. Firmaba estas letras Simone de Beauvoir, admiradora ferviente de la novela de Alcott. Al igual que ella, Joyce Carol Oates y muchas escritoras tuvieron y tienen por las hermanas March -Jo, Amy, Beth y Meg- aprecio especial, pero en España el publico a menudo ha tenido que contentarse con ediciones abreviadas de la obra, basadas en un texto 'dulcificado' por la autora a peticion de sus editores norteamericanos al realizar la segunda edicion.

Inglaterra, 1866. La joven y recatada Jean Muir llega a la aristocrática mansión de los Coventry para trabajar como institutriz. Gracias a su astucia y sus múltiples habilidades, tras solo una jornada de trabajo consigue ganarse el afecto de la señora Coventry, su hija Bella, el hijo menor, Edward, y sir John, el anciano y acaudalado tío. No ocurre lo mismo con Gerald, el hermano mayor, y Lucia, su prima, quienes desconfían de la institutriz y comienzan a espiar sus pasos. Pero Jean es una superviviente; su objetivo es asegurarse un esposo con riqueza y posición, y no dudará en utilizar todas las armas femeninas a su alcance como máscaras tras las que ocultarse para alcanzar sus objetivos.Al igual que su heroína, Alcott también hubo de esconderse tras la máscara de un seudónimo masculino.