As a girl, Little Women was one of my very favorite books. We all know about the trials that Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy and Marme go through during the year covered in the book, but have you ever wondered what was going on with Mr. March during this time? Ms. Brooks has told his story in this wonderfully written historical fiction. She used the journals of Louisa May Alcott's real father, who was friends with Emerson and Thoreau, and was a very liberal minister and abolitionist. Did you ever think that possibly the Marches were part of the Underground Railroad and hid runaway slaves? Or that the reason they are so poor is that Mr. March gave all his money away to John Brown, of the John Brown slave uprising? We also learn in this book that Marme is not the perfect person she is portrayed as, but a real life woman who loves and struggles in her marriage and in her life just as many of us do in 2010! I listened to this book on tape and loved it. Ms.Brooks writes with such detail that I felt I was right there and it is a mature and honest look at how many fighting in the "War Between the States" truly felt about slaves and the war in general. Mr.March (I don't think we ever know his first name, he is referred to as March) struggles with his ideals as he faces the realities of death and fighting and his own inabilities to bring about change.
Historical Fiction
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