Now in Paperback / An Indie Bestseller

A best book of the year by Library Journal, The Daily Mail, and A Mighty Girl

“Lively and informative . . . does what–ideally–books about books can do: I’ve taken Little Women down from the shelf and put it on top of the books I plan to read.”–Francine Prose, New York Times Book Review

Soon after its publication on September 30, 1868, Little Women became an enormous bestseller and one of America’s favorite novels. It quickly traveled the world and since has become an international classic. When Anne Boyd Rioux read it in her twenties, it had a singularly powerful effect on her. Through teaching it, she has seen its effect on many others.

In Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, she recounts how Louisa May Alcott came to write the book, drawing inspiration for it from her own life. She also examines why this tale of family and community ties, set while the Civil War tore the country apart, has resonated through later wars, the Great Depression, and times of changing opportunities for women.

Today, Rioux sees the novel’s beating heart in its portrayal of family resilience and its honest look at the struggles of girls growing into women. In gauging its current status, she shows why it remains a book with such power that people carry its characters and spirit throughout their lives.

“Highly companionable and illuminating.” –Mark Rozzo , Vanity Fair

“Straddling the line between entertainment and nuanced complexity, this fascinating look at Alcott’s novel is not to be missed.” –A Mighty Girl

“A love letter written not by a smitten youngster naïve to her beloved’s drawbacks but by a mature adult who can recognize complexity and nuance.”–Ilana Masad , NPR

“An affectionate and perceptive tribute.”

–Wendy Smith, Boston Globe

Book Clubs

If your book club is reading Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy and would like to have me “visit” via speakerphone or Skype, drop me an email (anneboydrioux@gmail.com). I never get tired of talking about Little Women!

Praise

“Firmly persuasive. . . impeccable. . . . the only companion to understanding the novel that most readers are every likely to need.”–John Matteson, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

“I first read LITTLE WOMEN in 1963, when I was seven years old. I started to call my mother Marmee and to force my younger cousins to perform in plays that I wrote. And of course my hero became Jo March. In subsequent readings over the years, my love for the novel has only grown and deepened. Reading Anne Boyd Rioux’s engaging MEG JO BETH AMY: The story of LITTLE WOMEN and why it matters, has made me pick up the book yet again with renewed insight and inspiration. Every fan of LITTLE WOMEN will delight in reading this. And all the women—and men—who haven’t read the novel will race to it after reading Rioux.” —Ann Hood, Author of Morningstar: Growing Up with Books and The Book That Matters Most

“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.”–Publishers Weekly

“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

“An enlightening, well-documented argument for why this novel is essential—will inspire readers to become acquainted or reacquainted with this influential classic.”–Kirkus Reviews

“An astute examination of the long life of Little Women in American culture.”–Atlantic Monthly

“An adroit consideration of Alcott and her milieu, of the book’s reception and popularity, and of the story’s legacy in film, television and literature. . . . The thoughtful pages of ‘Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy’ amount to a plea: Let us not forget these girls! We still need them.”–Wall Street Journal

Read an excerpt of Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy at Literary Hub.

Listen to a sample of the audio book.

Watch Anne on CBS Sunday Morning, talking with Rita Braver about the surviving manuscript of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.

Press

Hear Anne talk about the subversiveness of Louisa May Alcott’s depiction of marriage in Little Women and how Greta Gerwig’s new film breaks open our expectations for stories about women’s lives. Clips from Anne’s appearance at WBUR City Space, in Boston, on January 18, 2020.

Deluxe Anniversary Edition of Little Women

A beautiful new Deluxe Edition of Alcott’s beloved novel, with a foreword by National Book Award-winning author and musician Patti Smith. Nominated as one of America’s most-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

Little Women is recognized as one of the best-loved classic children’s stories, transcending the boundaries of time and age, making it as popular with adults as it is with young readers. The beloved story of the March girls is a classic American feminist novel, reflecting the tension between cultural obligation and artistic and personal freedom. But which of the four March sisters to love best? For every reader must have their favorite. Independent, tomboyish Jo; delicate, loving Beth; pretty, kind Meg; or precocious and artistic Amy, the baby of the family?

The charming story of these four “little women” and their wise and patient mother Marmee enduring hardships and enjoying adventures in Civil War New England was an instant success when first published in 1868 and has been adored for generations.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.