I can't believe it has taken me so long to read this little book. I tried once many years ago and remember being turned off by the cadence, or perhaps, the old-fashioned language of the first chapter. I just couldn't quite get into the rhythm. Alcott's lexicon comes across a touch antiquated in the first chapter, due in large part to her use of humor. Come to think of it, nothing ages more quickly than humor. To anyone reading, I would recommend you just stick with it through those first ten pages and you will find yourself comfortably immersed in the Alcott voice you've (presumably) come to know and love as a result of reading Little Women.

I recommend this work to anyone with an interest in American Literature or History or, of course, Little Women fans. Proof that a thin volume can be just as moving as an epic, I was brought to tears on more than one occasion. Watching Nurse Tribulation Periwinkle (Alcott's fictional counterpart) tend to wounded soldiers and their diminished spirits left me with a profound sympathy for veterans of war.