Little Women

Little Women is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. Loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters,

Little Women was an immediate commercial and critical success, and readers were eager for more of the characters. Alcott quickly completed a second volume (titled Good Wives or Little Women Married in the United Kingdom, though the name originated with the publisher and not Alcott). It was also met with success. The two volumes were issued in 1880 as a single novel titled Little Women. Alcott subsequently wrote two sequels to her popular work, both also featuring the March sisters: Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886).

The novel has been said to address three major themes: "domesticity, work, and true love, all of them interdependent and each necessary to the achievement of its heroine's individual identity." According to Sarah Elbert, Alcott created a new form of literature, one that took elements from romantic children's fiction and combined it with others from sentimental novels, resulting in a totally new genre. Elbert argues that within Little Women can be found the first vision of the "All-American girl" and that her various aspects are embodied in the differing March sisters. Alcott resisted, preferring to publish a collection of short stories, instead. Niles pressed her to write the girls' book first, however, and he was aided by her father, Amos Bronson Alcott, who also urged her to do so.

In May 1868, Alcott wrote in her journal: "Niles, partner of Roberts, asked me to write a girl's book. I said I'd try." Alcott set her novel in an imaginary Orchard House modeled on her residence of the same name, where she wrote the novel. "I plod away," she wrote in her diary, "although, I don't enjoy this sort of things."

Little Women was a novel that took part in the realism literary movement of the mid-to-late 1800s. This movement focused on depicting everyday life in a natural way and is seen through Alcott’s portrayal of the real aspects of women’s lives through the ways the characters interact with one another, work, and play. Gregory Eiselein and Anne Phillips write: "Fresh, lively, and distinctly American, the novel offered singular depictions of young women and men playing, talking, squabbling, dreaming, creating, learning, and coming of age in ways that embodied and resisted its era and region and immediately generated passionate responses." Readers are able to see and experience the joys and sorrows of the March family and come to understand what it meant to be a woman in the nineteenth century.

One real aspect that Alcott focused on was marriage. Marriage was exceedingly prevalent in the lives of women in the nineteenth century; during that time 93% of women in America married. However, what was special about the marriages the March women made was their equal partnerships within their relationships. Daniel Shealy writes: "Alcott gave serious thought to the marriages in part two and set out to instruct her readers, especially young women, on the importance of egalitarian relationships between husbands and wives." Before her marriage to John Brooke, while still living at home, she often lectures her younger sisters to ensure they grow to embody the title of "little women".

Meg is employed as a governess for the Kings, a wealthy local family. Because of their father's family's social standing, Meg makes her debut into high society, but she is lectured by her friend and neighbor, Theodore "Laurie" Laurence, for behaving like a snob. Meg marries John Brooke, Laurie's tutor. They have twins, Margaret "Daisy" Brooke and John Laurence "Demi" Brooke. The sequel, Little Men, mentions a baby daughter, Josephine "Josie" Brooke, who is 14, at the beginning of the final book.

According to Sarah Elbert, "democratic domesticity requires maturity, strength, and above all, a secure identity that Meg lacks".

Josephine "Jo" March

The principal character, Jo, 15 years old at the beginning of the book, is a strong and willful young woman, struggling to subdue her fiery temper and stubborn personality.

The second-oldest of the four sisters, Jo is masculine, the smartest, most creative one in the family; her father has referred to her as his "son Jo", and her best friend and neighbor, Theodore "Laurie" Laurence, sometimes calls her "my dear fellow", while she, alone, calls him Teddy. Jo has a "hot" temper that often leads her into trouble. With the help of her own misguided sense of humor, her sister, Beth, and her mother, she works on controlling it. It has been said that much of Louisa May Alcott shows through in these characteristics of Jo. In her essay, "Recollections of My Childhood," Alcott refers to herself as a tomboy who enjoyed boys' activities, like running foot-races and climbing trees.

Jo loves literature, both reading and writing. She composes plays for her sisters to perform and writes short stories. She initially rejects the idea of marriage and romance, feeling that it would break up her family and separate her from the sisters whom she adores. While pursuing a literary career in New York City, she meets Friedrich Bhaer, a German professor. On her return home, Laurie proposes marriage to Jo, which she rejects, thus confirming her independence. Another reason for the rejection is that the love that Laurie has for Jo is more a brotherly love, rather than romantic love, the difference between which he was unable to understand, because he was "just a boy," as said by Alcott in the book.

After Beth dies, Professor Bhaer woos Jo at her home, when "they decide to share life's burdens, just as they shared the load of bundles on their shopping expedition". They have two sons, Robert "Rob" Bhaer and Theodore "Ted" Bhaer. Jo also writes the first part of Little Women during the second portion of the novel. According to Elbert, "her narration signals a successfully completed adolescence". Infused with quiet wisdom, she is the peacemaker of the family, and she gently scolds her sisters, when they argue. As her sisters grow up, they begin to leave home, but Beth has no desire to leave her house or family. She is especially close to Jo: when Beth develops scarlet fever, after visiting the Hummels, Jo does most of the nursing and rarely leaves her side. Beth recovers from the acute disease, but her health is permanently weakened.

As she grows, Beth begins to realize that her time with her loved ones is coming to an end. Finally, the family accepts that Beth will not live much longer. They make a special room for her, filled with all the things she loves best: her kittens, her piano, Father's books, Amy's sketches, and her beloved dolls. She is never idle; she knits and sews things for the children who pass by on their way to and from school. However, eventually she puts down her sewing needle, saying it has grown "heavy". Beth's final sickness has a strong effect on her sisters, especially Jo, who resolves to live her life with more consideration and care for everyone. The main loss during Little Women is the death of beloved Beth. Her "self-sacrifice is ultimately the greatest in the novel. She gives up her life, knowing that it has had only private, domestic meaning." Often coddled, because she is the youngest, Amy can behave in a vain and self-centered way, though she does still love her family. She has the middle name Curtis, and is the only March sister to use her full name, rather than a diminutive.

Amy's aunt chooses her to accompany her to Europe, rather than her sister, Jo. There, she matures and makes a decision, based on her limited artistic talent, how to direct her adult life. She encounters Theodore "Laurie" Laurence and his grandfather during the extended visit. Amy is the least inclined of the sisters to sacrifice and self-denial. She behaves well in upper-class society and is at ease with herself. Critic Martha Saxton observes that the author was never fully at ease with Amy's moral development, and her success in life seemed relatively accidental.

Additional characters

thumb|The March Sisters by [[Pablo Marcos]]

Margaret "Marmee" March – The girls' mother and head of household, while her husband is away. She engages in charitable works and lovingly guides her girls' morals and their characters. She once confesses to Jo that her temper is as volatile as Jo's but has learned to control it. Somewhat modeled after the author's own mother, she is the focus around which the girls' lives unfold, as they grow. Bhaer's characterization was inspired by multiple men whom Alcott was attracted to or admired, including Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Follen and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the latter of whom Alcott considered her "chief idol".
Robert & Theodore Bhaer ("Rob" and "Ted") – Jo's and Fritz's sons, introduced in the final pages of the novel, named after the March girls' father and Laurie.
John Brooke – During his employment as a tutor to Laurie, he falls in love with Meg. He accompanies Mrs. March to Washington D.C., when her husband is ill with pneumonia. When Laurie leaves for college, Brooke continues his employment with Mr. Laurence as a bookkeeper. When Aunt March overhears Meg accepting John's declaration of love, she threatens Meg with disinheritance, because she suspects that Brooke is only interested in Meg's future prospects. Eventually, Meg admits her feelings to Brooke, they defy Aunt March (who ends up accepting the marriage), and they are engaged. Brooke serves in the Union Army for a year, and is sent home as an invalid when he is wounded. Brooke marries Meg a few years later, when the war has ended and she has turned twenty. Brooke was modeled after John Bridge Pratt, Alcott's sister Anna's husband.
Margaret & John Laurence Brooke ("Daisy" and "Demijohn/Demi") – Meg's twin son and daughter. Daisy is named after both Meg and Marmee, while Demi is named after John and the Laurence family.
Josephine Brooke ("Josy" or "Josie") – Meg's youngest child, named after Jo. She develops a passion for acting as she grows up.
Uncle and Aunt Carrol – Sister and brother-in-law of Mr. March. They take Amy to Europe with them, where Uncle Carrol frequently tries to be like an English gentleman.
Florence "Flo" Carrol – Amy's cousin, daughter of Aunt and Uncle Carrol, and companion in Europe.
May and Mrs. Chester – A well-to-do family with whom the Marches are acquainted. May Chester is a girl about Amy's age, who is rich and jealous of Amy's popularity and talent.
Miss Crocker – An old and poor spinster who likes to gossip and who has few friends.
Mr. Dashwood – Publisher and editor of the Weekly Volcano.
Mr. Davis – The schoolteacher at Amy's school. He punishes Amy for bringing pickled limes to school by striking her palm and making her stand on a platform in front of the class. She is withdrawn from the school by her mother.
Estelle "Esther" Valnor – A French woman employed as a servant for Aunt March who befriends Amy.
The Gardiners – Wealthy friends of Meg's. Daughter Sallie Gardiner later marries Ned Moffat.
The Hummels – A poor German family consisting of a widowed mother and six children. Marmee and the girls help them by bringing food, firewood, blankets, and other comforts. They help with minor repairs to their small dwelling. Three of the children die of scarlet fever and Beth contracts the disease while caring for them. The eldest daughter, Lottchen "Lotty" Hummel, later works as a matron at Jo's school at Plumfield
The Kings – A wealthy family with four children for whom Meg works as a governess.
The Kirkes – Mrs. Kirke is a friend of Mrs. March's who runs a boarding house in New York. She employs Jo as governess to her two daughters, Kitty and Minnie.
The Lambs – A well-off family with whom the Marches are acquainted.
James Laurence – Laurie's grandfather and a wealthy neighbor of the Marches. Lonely in his mansion, and often at odds with his high-spirited grandson, he finds comfort in becoming a benefactor to the Marches. He protects the March sisters while their parents are away. He was a friend of Mrs. March's father and admires their charitable works. He develops a special, tender friendship with Beth, who reminds him of his late granddaughter. He gives Beth the girl's piano.
Theodore "Laurie" Laurence – A rich young man who lives opposite the Marches, older than Jo but younger than Meg. Laurie is the "boy next door" to the March family and has an overprotective paternal grandfather, Mr. Laurence. After eloping with an Italian pianist, Laurie's father was disowned by his parents. Both Laurie's mother and father died young, so as a boy Laurie was taken in by his grandfather. Preparing to enter Harvard, Laurie is being tutored by John Brooke. He is described as attractive and charming, with black eyes, brown skin, and curly black hair. He later falls in love with Amy and they marry; they have one child, a little girl named after Beth: Elizabeth "Bess" Laurence. Sometimes Jo calls Laurie "Teddy". Though Alcott did not make Laurie as multidimensional as the female characters, she partly based him on Ladislas Wisniewski, a young Polish émigré she had befriended, and Alf Whitman, a friend from Lawrence, Kansas.
Elizabeth Laurence ("Bess") – The only daughter of Laurie and Amy, named for Beth. Like her mother, she develops a love for art as she grows up.
Aunt Josephine March – Mr. March's aunt, a rich widow. Somewhat temperamental and prone to being judgmental, she disapproves of the family's poverty, their charitable work, and their general disregard for the more superficial aspects of society's ways. Her vociferous disapproval of Meg's impending engagement to the impoverished Mr. Brooke becomes the proverbial "last straw" that actually causes Meg to accept his proposal. She appears to be strict and cold, but deep down, she's really quite soft-hearted. She dies near the end of the first book, and Jo and Friedrich turn her estate into a school for boys.
Annie Moffat – A fashionable and wealthy friend of Meg and Sallie Gardiner.
Ned Moffat – Annie Moffat's brother, who marries Sallie Gardiner.
Hannah Mullet – The March family maid and cook, their only servant. She is of Irish descent and very dear to the family. She is treated more like a member of the family than a servant.
Miss Norton – A friendly, well-to-do tenant living in Mrs. Kirke's boarding house. She occasionally invites Jo to accompany her to lectures and concerts.
Susie Perkins – A girl at Amy's school.
The Scotts – Friends of Meg and John Brooke. John knows Mr. Scott from work.
Tina – The young daughter of an employee of Mrs. Kirke. Tina loves Mr. Bhaer and treats him like a father.
The Vaughans – English friends of Laurie's who come to visit him. Kate is the oldest of the Vaughan siblings, and prim and proper Grace is the youngest. The middle siblings, Fred and Frank, are twins; Frank is the younger twin.
Fred Vaughan – A Harvard friend of Laurie's who, in Europe, courts Amy. Rivalry with the much richer Fred for Amy's love inspires the dissipated Laurie to pull himself together and become more worthy of her. Amy eventually rejects Fred, knowing she does not love him and decides not to marry out of ambition.
Frank Vaughan – Fred's twin brother, is mentioned a few times in the novel. When Fred and Amy both travel through Europe, Fred leaves because he hears his twin is ill.

Inspiration

thumb|right|200px|The attic at [[Fruitlands (transcendental center)|Fruitlands where Alcott lived and acted out plays at 11 years old. Note that the ceiling area is around 4 feet high]]

For her books, Alcott was often inspired by familiar elements. The characters in Little Women are recognizably drawn from family members and friends. May, Alcott's strong-willed sister, was portrayed as Amy, whose pretentious affectations cause her occasional downfalls.

However, Alcott's portrayal, even if inspired by her family, is an idealized one. For instance, Mr. March is portrayed as a hero of the American Civil War, a gainfully employed chaplain, and, presumably, a source of inspiration to the women of the family. He is absent for most of the novel. In addition to her own childhood and that of her sisters, scholars who have examined the diaries of Louisa Alcott's mother, Abigail Alcott, have surmised that Little Women was also heavily inspired by Abigail Alcott's own early life.

Also, Little Women has several textual and structural references to John Bunyan's novel The Pilgrim's Progress. Jo and her sisters read it at the outset of the book and try to follow the good example of Bunyan's Christian. Throughout the novel, the main characters refer many times to The Pilgrim's Progress and liken the events in their own lives to the experiences of the pilgrims. Several chapter titles directly reference characters and places from The Pilgrim's Progress.

In addition to drawing on her own life during the development of Little Women, Alcott also took influence from several of her earlier works including "The Sisters' Trial", "A Modern Cinderella", and "In the Garret". The characters within these short stories and poems, in addition to Alcott's own family and personal relationships, inspired the general concepts and bases for many of the characters in Little Women.

Publication history

The first volume of Little Women was published in 1868 by Roberts Brothers. The first edition included illustrations by Abigail May Alcott, the sister commonly called "May" who inspired the fictional Amy March. She "struggled" with her illustrative additions to her sister's book, but later improved her skills and found some success as an artist.

The first printing of 2,000 copies sold out quickly, and the company had trouble keeping up with the demand for additional printings. They announced: "The great literary hit of the season is undoubtedly Miss Alcott's Little Women, the orders for which continue to flow in upon us to such an extent as to make it impossible to answer them with promptness." Alcott delivered the manuscript for the second volume on New Year's Day 1869, just three months after publication of part one. Each chapter is numbered and has a title as well. Part 2, Chapter 24 opens with: "In order that we may start afresh and go to Meg's wedding with free minds, it will be well to begin with a little gossip about the Marches." Gregory S. Jackson said that Alcott's use of realism belongs to the American Protestant pedagogical tradition, which includes a range of religious literary traditions with which Alcott was familiar. He has copies in his book of nineteenth-century images of devotional children's guides which provide background for the game of "pilgrims progress" that Alcott uses in her plot of Book One.

Little Women was well received upon first publication. According to 21st-century critic Barbara Sicherman there was, during the 19th century, a "scarcity of models for nontraditional womanhood", which led more women to look toward "literature for self-authorization. This is especially true during adolescence." Alcott did not have Jo accept Laurie's hand in marriage; rather, when she arranged for Jo to marry, she portrayed an unconventional man as her husband. In Sicherman's opinion, Alcott used Friedrich to "subvert adolescent romantic ideals" because he was much older and seemingly unsuited for Jo.

In 2003 Little Women was ranked number 18 in The Big Read, a survey of the British public by the BBC to determine the "Nation's Best-loved Novel" (not children's novel); it is fourth-highest among novels published in the U.S. on that list. Based on a 2007 online poll, the U.S. National Education Association listed it as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012 it was ranked number 47 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily US audience.

Influence

Little Women has been one of the most widely read novels, noted by Stern from a 1927 report in The New York Times and cited in Little Women and the Feminist Imagination: Criticism, Controversy, Personal Essays.  Ruth MacDonald argued that "Louisa May Alcott stands as one of the great American practitioners of the girls' novel and the family story".

In the 1860s, gendered separation of children's fiction was a newer division in literature. This division signaled a beginning of polarization of gender roles as social constructs "as class stratification increased". Girls related to the March sisters in Little Women, along with following the lead of their heroines, by assimilating aspects of the story into their own lives.

Alcott's novel is often celebrated for Jo and her narrative arc in which she becomes a self-determined woman with a career. However, framing this novel as a success, solely for Jo's accomplishments, portrays it as a "traditional 'lone genius' patriarchal narrative" in which only women who are "categorized as 'exceptional' or particularly 'worthy'" are celebrated. Little Women awards all its women worthy, despite their status as conventional or unconventional—not just Jo, who is the obvious exception to societal expectation. Alcott's novel celebrates the agency of women, the four sisters and their mother, to choose their path in life. Meg makes the decision to marry and have children and though it is the traditional pathway, she makes the choice for her own happiness. Thus, reducing Alcott's novel to just Jo's experience as an exception promotes it as a patriarchal narrative and erases her careful work to portray a matriarchal narrative, rich with female agency and voice.

Alcott "made women's rights integral to her stories, and above all, to Little Women".

Adaptations

Stage

Marian de Forest adapted Little Women for the Broadway stage in 1912 with Marie Pavey as Jo. The 1919 London production made a star of Katharine Cornell, who played the role of Jo.
Isabella Russell-Ides created two stage adaptations. Her Little Women featured an appearance by the author. Jo & Louisa features a confrontation between the unhappy character, Jo March, who wants rewrites from her author.
A new adaptation by playwright Kate Hamill had its world premiere in 2018 at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis, followed by a New York premiere in 2019 at Primary Stages directed by Sarna Lapine.
A new adaptation by playwright Lauren Gunderson made its rolling world premiere in 2024 at Northlight Theatre in Skokie directed by Georgette Verdin, followed by a West Coast premiere in 2025 at Theatreworks Silicon Valley directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

Film

Little Women has been adapted to film seven times. The first adaptation was a silent film directed by Alexander Butler and released in 1917, which starred Daisy Burrell as Amy, Mary Lincoln as Meg, Ruby Miller as Jo, and Muriel Myers as Beth. It is considered a lost film.

Another silent film adaptation was released in 1918 and directed by Harley Knoles. It starred Isabel Lamon as Meg, Dorothy Bernard as Jo, Lillian Hall as Beth, and Florence Flinn as Amy. It is also considered a lost film.

George Cukor directed the first sound adaptation of Little Women, starring Katharine Hepburn as Jo, Joan Bennett as Amy, Frances Dee as Meg, and Jean Parker as Beth. The film was released in 1933. In Radio City Music Hall the film was "breaking box-office records" in the fall of 1933, and Hepburn received top billing. It was followed by an adaptation of Little Men the following year.

The first color adaptation starred June Allyson as Jo, Margaret O'Brien as Beth, Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, and Janet Leigh as Meg. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, it was released in 1949. The film received two Academy Award nominations for color film, for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction/Set Direction, the latter for which it received the Oscar.

Gillian Armstrong directed a 1994 adaptation, starring Winona Ryder as Jo, Trini Alvarado as Meg, Samantha Mathis and Kirsten Dunst as Amy, Claire Danes as Beth, Christian Bale as Laurie and Susan Sarandon as Marmee. The film received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress for Ryder.

A contemporary film adaptation was released in 2018 to mark the 150th anniversary of the novel.

Writer and director Greta Gerwig took on the story in her 2019 adaptation of the novel. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Jo, Emma Watson as Meg, Florence Pugh as Amy, Laura Dern as Marmee, Meryl Streep as Aunt March, Eliza Scanlen as Beth and Timothee Chalamet as Laurie. The film received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

Television

Little Women was adapted into a television musical, in 1958, by composer Richard Adler for CBS.

Little Women has been made into a serial four times by the BBC: in 1950 (when it was shown live), in 1958, in 1970, and in 2017. The 3-episode 2017 series development was supported by PBS, and was aired as part of the PBS Masterpiece anthology in 2018.

In 1950, the American anthology series Studio One aired a two-part adaptation consisting of two hour-long episodes on CBS. The first was Little Women: Meg's Story on December 18, followed by Little Women: Jo's Story on Christmas day. Meg's Story was directed by Paul Nickell and Jo's Story by Lela Swift. It featured a teleplay by Sumner Locke Elliott and starred Nancy Marchand as Jo, June Dayton as Beth, Peg Hillias as Mrs. March, Lois Hall as Amy, Mary Sinclair as Meg, Elizabeth Patterson as Aunt March, Kent Smith as Bhaer, John Baragrey as Mr. Brooks, Berry Kroeger as Mr. Laurence, Una O'Connor as Hannah, and Conrad Bain Dr. Bangs. In 1958, CBS aired a musical version starring Florence Henderson.

Universal Television produced a two-part miniseries based on the novel, which aired on NBC in 1978. It was followed by a 1979 series.

In the 1970s and 1980s, multiple anime adaptations were made. In 1977, an episode based on a small part of the first volume aired in the anthology anime series Manga Fairy Tales of the World. In 1980, an anime special was made as a predecessor to the 26-part 1981 anime series Little Women. Then, in 1987, another adaptation titled Tales of Little Women was released as part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. All anime specials and series were dubbed in English and shown on American television. Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

In 2012, Lifetime aired The March Sisters at Christmas, a contemporary television film focusing on the title characters' efforts to save their family home from being sold. In 2017, BBC television aired a miniseries adaptation developed by Heidi Thomas, directed by Vanessa Caswill. The three one-hour episodes were first broadcast on BBC One on Boxing Day 2017 and the following two days. The cast included Maya Hawke, Emily Watson, Michael Gambon and Angela Lansbury. A 2018 adaption is that of Manor Rama Pictures LLP of Karan Raj Kohli & Viraj Kapur which streams on the ALTBalaji app in India. The web series is called Haq Se. Set in Kashmir, the series is a modern-day Indian adaptation of the book. A South Korean adaptation was developed and produced by Studio Dragon for local cable network tvN and Netflix. Written by Chung Seo-kyung and directed by Kim Hee-won, it aired in September 2022.

Musicals and opera

The novel was adapted to a musical of the same name with a book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, and music by Jason Howland and debuted on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre on January 23, 2005 and closed on May 22, 2005 after 137 performances. A production was also staged in Sydney, Australia in 2008.

Eleanor Everest Freer adapted Little Women as an opera, writing both the score and libretto. Freer's opera, a two-act work in English, debuted in Chicago at the Musician's Club of Women on April 2, 1934.

The Houston Grand Opera commissioned and performed Little Women in 1998. The opera was aired on television by PBS in 2001 and has been staged by other opera companies since the premiere.

Audio drama

For three weeks a daily 15-minute radio serialization starring Elaine Kent, Patricia Ryan, Joyce Howard, and Sammie Hill was broadcast on Mutual radio, running from February 9 to February 27, 1942.
An hour-long radio drama starring Katharine Hepburn, Oscar Homolka, John Lodge, Frances Reed, Judith Parrish, Susan Douglas, and Elliot Reed was broadcast December 23, 1945 from the stage of the Vanderbilt Theater in New York by Theatre Guild on the Air.
A dramatized version, produced by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre, was released on September 4, 2012.
A ten-part full cast dramatisation was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.
A radio play, produced by Far From the Tree Productions, was released in episodes from November 14 to December 19, 2020.
A twenty-three episode series, produced by TWI Media, that released each chapter diegetically from December 2022 through January 2024.

Literature

The novel has inspired a number of other literary retellings by various authors. Books inspired by Little Women include the following:

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
His Little Women by Judith Rossner
The Little Women by Katharine Weber
March by Geraldine Brooks
Little Women and Werewolves by Porter Grand
Little Vampire Women by Lynn Messina
This Wide Night by Sarvat Hasin
Marmee by Sarah Miller
Littler Women by Laura Schaefer
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
My Little Pony: Classics Reimagined: Little Filles, a retelling of Little Women with Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity as Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy respectively. This adaption is aimed at children, removing most of the serious plot points and changing the character's roles (Meg wishing to open a School of Friendship rather than debuting into high society), along with the characters frequently breaking the fourth wall, meta-references, questioning their roles, and interacting directly with the reader. Instead of Beth (Fluttershy) dying from scarlet fever, she is instead sent on a permanent vacation by Discord and later reunited with her family in the ending.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante includes a child writer who loves reading Little Women.

Web series

The March Family Letters was released by Pemberley Digital on YouTube in 2015, reimagining the story in a series of vlogs released twice a week. The series reimagined the sisters as a modern-day family in Toronto making their vlogs for their mother, who is serving with the Canadian Armed Forces. The team incorporated social media by giving the main characters their own real-life accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. The series was created by Sarah Shelson and Lauren Evans.

References

External links

1945 radio adaptation of novel at Theatre Guild on the Air at the Internet Archive