Little Women

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, follows four sisters growing up together in New England during the Civil War.

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March don't have much money, but their house is full of warmth. Their father is away serving as a chaplain, so their mother, Marmee, holds the family together through cold winters and quiet worries about the war. Each sister has her own path. Meg dreams of a comfortable home and a family of her own. Jo is restless and stubborn, scribbling stories in the attic and longing for a bigger life than the one expected of her. Beth is gentle and shy, happiest at the piano. Amy is vain about her curls and her drawings, and determined to rise above their modest means. Next door, a lonely rich boy named Laurie becomes their closest friend, pulled into the sisters' games, quarrels, and secrets.

Over the seasons that follow, the girls face the small and large trials of growing up: first jobs, first parties, first heartbreaks, illness, and loss. Jo has to decide what she's willing to give up for her writing and what she's not willing to give up for anyone. The sisters argue, forgive each other, and slowly become the women they're meant to be, without losing what makes each of them who she is.

This is a coming-of-age story about sisterhood and family life in nineteenth-century New England, built from small domestic moments rather than big adventure. Readers who return to Jane Austen or Anne of Green Gables will find the same warmth in this quiet story about sisters, growing up, and the ties that hold a family together through hard times.

There's room to breathe between the scenes here, and the pace is set for the end of the day rather than the edge of your seat. The March sisters' world settles in around you, read low and slow by Elizabeth Grace, while your own thoughts quiet and let go.