The Complete Little Women

LITTLE WOMEN:

THE COMPLETE SERIES

Louisa May Alcott

Copyright © 2013 by iReign Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

iReign Publishing

Contents

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR

LITTLE WOMEN (VOL. I)

GOOD WIVES (VOL. II)             

LITTLE MEN             

MARCH FAMILY ALBUM             

JO'S BOYS             

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR

Birth:  November 29, 1832 Germantown, Pennsylvania, United States

Death: March 6, 1888 (aged 55) Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Parents:  Amos Bronson Alcott,  Abby May

Siblings:  Anna Bronson Alcott, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Abigail May Alcott

Born second in a family of four girls, Alcott was educated by her father, a philosopher, poet Henry David Thoreau, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. She began writing stories at an early age, and by sixteen, she completed her first book, Flower Fables.

The sometimes violent temper of her father and the inability of the latter to provide adequately for his family, gave rise to conflicts between the parents of Louisa May and obliged her and her sisters to work at a young age. At times, she became the occasional teacher, seamstress, housekeeper, maid and writer. Her mother also did social work with Irish immigrants.

As an adult she championed the cause of the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of women. She published a book about her nursing experience during the Civil War and released her first novel The Rose Family: A Fairy Tale in 1864. Three years later, she agreed to run a newspaper for children and to compose a story for young readers.

Little Women was published in 1868. The success of the book prompted her to release a sequel Good Wives in 1869. Two other books of the series also exist: Little Men and Jo's Boys. Alcott's family, friends and communities in New England and Europe were used as models for the stories.

Having contracted typhoid fever during her service in the Civil War, she suffered from chronic health problems. At the age of 55 she passed away in Boston, two days after the death of her father.

Early in her career, along with her books for children, Louisa May Alcott also wrote Gothic novels under the pseudonym A. Mr. Barnard. Her diary and correspondence have also been published.

Selected Works:

    The Inheritance (1849)

    Flower Fables (1849)

    Hospital Sketches (1863)

    The Rose Family: A Fairy Tale (1864)

    Moods (1865, revised 1882)

    Morning-Glories and Other Stories (1867)

    The Mysterious Key and What It Opened (1867)

    Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868)

    Three Proverb Stories (1868)

    A Strange Island, (1868)

    Good Wives (1869)

    Perilous Play, (1869)

    An Old Fashioned Girl (1870)

    Will's Wonder Book (1870)

    Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871)

    Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag (1872)

    "Transcendental Wild Oats" (1873)

    Work: A Story of Experience (1873)

    Eight Cousins or The Aunt-Hill (1875)

    Beginning Again, Being a Continuation of Work (1875)

    Silver Pitchers, and Independence: A Centennial Love Story" (1876)

    Rose in Bloom: A Sequel to Eight Cousins (1876)

    Under the Lilacs (1878)

    Jack and Jill: A Village Story (1880)

    The Candy Country (1885)

    Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men" (1886)

    Lulu's Library (1886–1889)

    A Garland for Girls (1888)

    Comic Tragedies (1893 [posthumously])

As A. M. Barnard

    Behind a Mask, or a Woman's Power (1866)

    The Abbot's Ghost (1867)

    A Long Fatal Love Chase (1866)

Anonymous Works

    A Modern Mephistopheles (1877)

LITTLE WOMEN (VOL. I)

Contents             

ONE - PLAYING PILGRIMS

TWO - A MERRY CHRISTMAS

THREE - THE LAURENCE BOY

FOUR - BURDENS

FIVE - BEING NEIGHBORLY

SIX - BETH FINDS THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL

SEVEN - AMY'S VALLEY OF HUMILIATION

EIGHT - JO MEETS APOLLYON

NINE - MEG GOES TO VANITY FAIR

TEN - THE P.C. AND P.O.

ELEVEN - EXPERIMENTS

TWELVE - CAMP LAURENCE

THIRTEEN - CASTLES IN THE AIR

FOURTEEN - SECRETS

FIFTEEN - A TELEGRAM

SIXTEEN - LETTERS

SEVENTEEN - LITTLE FAITHFUL

EIGHTEEN - DARK DAYS

NINETEEN - AMY'S WILL

TWENTY - CONFIDENTIAL

TWENTY-ONE - LAURIE MAKES MISCHIEF, AND JO MAKES PEACE

TWENTY-TWO - PLEASANT MEADOWS

TWENTY-THREE - AUNT MARCH SETTLES THE QUESTION

ONE - PLAYING PILGRIMS

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

"It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.

"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff.

"We've got Father and Mother, and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner.

The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, "We haven't got Father, and shall not have him for a long time." She didn't say "perhaps never," but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was.

Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone, "You know the reason Mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army. We can't do much, but we can make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don't," and Meg shook her head, as she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted.

"But I don't think the little we should spend would do any good. We've each got a dollar, and the army wouldn't be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from Mother or you, but I do want to buy Undine and Sintran for myself. I've wanted it so long," said Jo, who was a bookworm.

"I planned to spend mine in new music," said Beth, with a little sigh, which no one heard but the hearth brush and kettle-holder.

"I shall get a nice box of Faber's drawing pencils; I really need them," said Amy decidedly.

"Mother didn't say anything about our money, and she won't wish us to give up everything. Let's each buy what we want, and have a little fun; I'm sure we work hard enough to earn it," cried Jo, examining the heels of her shoes in a gentlemanly manner.

"I know I do—teaching those tiresome children nearly all day, when I'm longing to enjoy myself at home," began Meg, in the complaining tone again.

"You don't have half such a hard time as I do," said Jo. "How would you like to be shut up for hours with a nervous, fussy old lady, who keeps you trotting, is never satisfied, and worries you till you're ready to fly out the window or cry?"

"It's naughty to fret, but I do think washing dishes and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world. It makes me cross, and my hands get so stiff, I can't practice well at all." And Beth looked at her rough hands with a sigh that any one could hear that time.

"I don't believe any of you suffer as I do," cried Amy, "for you don't have to go to school with impertinent girls, who plague you if you don't know your lessons, and laugh at your dresses, and label your father if he isn't rich, and insult you when your nose isn't nice."

"If you mean libel, I'd say so, and not talk about labels, as if Papa was a pickle bottle," advised Jo, laughing.

"I know what I mean, and you needn't be statirical about it.