Little Women

Development history

In 1868, Alcott's publisher, Thomas Niles, recommended that she write a novel about girls that would have widespread appeal.[4]: 2  Alcott resisted, preferring to publish a collection of short stories. Niles pressed her to write the girls' book first, and he was aided by her father Amos Bronson Alcott, who also urged her to do so.[4]: 207  Louisa confided to a friend, “I could not write a girls' story knowing little about any but my own sisters and always preferring boys”.[8]

In May 1868, Alcott wrote in her journal: "Niles, partner of Roberts, asked me to write a girl's book. I said I'd try."[9]: 36  Alcott set her novel in an imaginary Orchard House modeled on her own residence of the same name, where she wrote the novel.[4]: xiii  She later recalled that she did not think she could write a successful book for girls and did not enjoy writing it.[10]: 335-  "I plod away," she wrote in her diary, "although I don't enjoy this sort of things."[9]: 37 

By June, Alcott had sent the first dozen chapters to Niles, and both agreed that they were dull. But Niles's niece, Lillie Almy, read them and said she enjoyed them.[10]: 335–336  The completed manuscript was shown to several girls who agreed it was "splendid". Alcott wrote, "they are the best critics, so I should definitely be satisfied."[9]: 37  She wrote Little Women "in record time for money",[7]: 196x2  but the book's immediate success surprised both her and her publisher.[11]


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