The four March sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy - live in financial hardship in New England with their mother, while their father has been drafted to fight in the Civil War. The girls embark on a series of adventures and endure a number of unexpected misfortunes - experiences that allow their personalities to emerge: Meg sensible and outgoing, Jo literary and boyish, Beth musical and shy, and Amy artistic and selfish - but the bonds holding together the March family remain unbroken. Initially written as a novel for girls, Little Women is now regarded as an all-time American classic for all readers, inspiring generations of women writers and giving rise to many adaptations.

"Six generations of readers have found in the story of the March family universal truths about girls, families and growing up." * The Guardian *
"The resounding message of Little Women is that no one stays the same for ever, least of all the reader...the power of Little Women lies absolutely in its girlish innocence." * The Times *
"Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is as much a part of every girl's childhood as her first pair of ballet shoes and the Brothers Grimm." * Mail on Sunday *

Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) wrote several classic novels inspired by her New England childhood, and was also active in the Suffragette movement.