Shealy, a professor of English at UNC-Charlotte and editor of Alcott's letters and journals, has collected 36 first-person reminiscences that span the life
(1832–1888) of the ever-popular author of Little Women
. The essays testify to how accurately Alcott's fiction detailed her often impoverished childhood as the daughter of transcendentalist Bronson Alcott. Her oldest sister, Anna, writes to one of Louisa's fans that the fictional sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are all "entirely truthful pictures" of the Alcott sisters, and Alfred Whitman revealed only in 1901, in the Ladies' Home Journal,
that Alcott had admitted he was one of two models for Laurie (though others also claim the title). Another theme is Bronson's willingness to sacrifice the well-being of his family to his philosophical ideals, leaving the problem of feeding their children to his hard-working, practical wife. Other entries recount the later years, when Louisa's writing had become lucrative and she gratefully eased her parents' financial burdens; despite persistent ill health resulting from a Civil War nursing stint, the middle-aged Alcott retained her affectionate nature and sense of irreverent fun. This valuable book will be a boon to devotees and scholars. 33 photos, 12 line drawings. (June)
