Cheever, Susan. Louisa May Alcott. Simon and Schuster.
If ever a parallel could be drawn between biographer and subject one finds it in this work. Louisa May Alcott's father, Bronson, was a largely unsuccessful educational reformer whose work seemed more important than his large family in Concord, Massachusetts. Susan Cheever's acclaimed writer father, John, might be seen to compliment Bronson in his absences for the sake of literature. It was fortunate that Louisa found inspiration in famous neighbors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, who at times helped the Alcott family financially. Part of why Louisa eventually became a writer was also to keep everyone out of debt. Her experiences as a Civil War nurse in Washington, D.C. and as a seamstress and magazine editor may have given Henry James the idea to write his novel "Daisy Miller." Louisa never really enjoyed the fame and fortune she achieved writing "Little Women" and other works having lost two of her beloved sisters and becoming guardian to the daughter of one of them at age 48.
Also by Susan Cheever at Merrick Library:
As Good As I Could Be
Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction
My Name Is Bill
Note Found In A Bottle
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