It has been lovely to hear from the first readers of Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters, which will come out Aug. 21. Because I had to produce the book so quickly in order to get it published for the 150th anniversary of Little Women on September 29, 2018, very few people had read it before it was in the publisher’s hands. Every author writes for an audience, and it can be nerve-wracking waiting to find out what they think. So far so good, I’m happy to say.
Most importantly, the first review has been published. It ran in Publisher’s Weekly and says, in part, “Rioux offers enough detail to entertain and inform without overwhelming the reader. While she notes the novel’s readership has fallen off in recent years, one hopes her well-crafted work will help revive interest in a work she rightfully argues should be placed alongside Tom Sawyer as an enduring American classic.” Here is the whole review (as large as I could make it):
Two more blurbs have come in as well:
“Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters masterfully peels away the layers of complexity in Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel. Reflecting astute research and scholarship, Rioux’s book is immensely entertaining and informative and can be easily enjoyed by teachers, scholars, and the multitude of Little Women lovers around the world.”
–Daniel Shealy, editor of Alcott in Her Own Time
“What a marvelous investigation of Louisa May Alcott’s slyly subversive Little Women! Anne Boyd Rioux has given us a thorough and insightful examination of the enduring appeal of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, and why generations of readers have claimed the March sisters as their own. ”
–Katharine Weber, author of The Little Women
I’m grateful for these and other readers’ responses and am feeling ready for publication, which is now five months away. I’ll post here about some of the milestones along the way, but to get the full story, you can subscribe to my newsletter, The Bluestocking Bulletin, where I profile little-known women writers who deserve more recognition. Between now and publication day, I’ll be focusing on writers who knew or were somehow connected to Louisa May Alcott. This month it’s Lucy Larcom, a mill worker turned poet who was a contemporary of Alcott’s and published some of her work in the magazine she edited. There are some other striking similarities as well. In the newsletter, I’ll be announcing pre-order giveaways and other opportunities just for my subscribers, so I hope to see you there! (Have a friend who loves Little Women? You can send them the subscription link directly: http://eepurl.com/dhnSBP.)
