Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother - Softcover

LaPlante, Eve

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1451620675 ISBN 13: 9781451620672

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2013

Synopsis

"In this meticulously researched look at Louisa May Alcott and her mother, Eve LaPlante shatters myths about the supposed passive Marmee, replacing them with a portrait of a woman who fought for a woman's right to education, professional and maternal satisfaction, and power" (People).

Marmee & Louisa, hailed by NPR as one of the best books of 2012, paints an exquisitely moving and utterly convincing portrait of Louisa May Alcott and her mother, the real "Marmee." Award-winning biographer Eve LaPlante mines the Alcotts' intimate diaries and other private papers, some recently discovered in a family attic and others thought to have been destroyed, to revive this remarkable daughter and mother. Abigail May Alcott--long dismissed as a quiet, self-effacing background figure--comes to life as a gifted writer and thinker. A politically active feminist firebrand, she fought for universal civil rights, an end to slavery, and women's suffrage. This gorgeously written story of two extraordinary women is guaranteed to transform our view and deepen our understanding of one of America's most beloved authors.

About this title

Product Description:

Marmee & Louisa "In this meticulously researched look at Louisa May Alcott and her mother, Eve LaPlante shatters myths about the supposed passive Marmee, replacing them with a portrait of a woman who fought for a woman's right to education, professional and maternal satisfaction, and power"""("People").Louisa May Alcott's classic "Little Women" has been a mainstay of American literature since its release nearly 150 years ago, making her one of the most successful and bestselling authors--male or female--of her day. Biographers have consistently attributed Louisa's uncommon success to her outspoken idealist father, Bronson Alcott, assuming that he was the source of his daugh...

Review:

"'Let the world know you are alive!' Abigail Alcott counseled her daughter, who amply did, having inherited her mother's spirit and frustrations, diaries and work ethic. Along the way Louisa May Alcott immortalized the woman in whose debt she understood herself to be and who ultimately died in her arms; Eve LaPlante beautifully resurrects her here. A most original love story, taut and tender."--Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of Cleopatra: A Life

"This is an important book about an important relationship. Writing engagingly and with precision, Eve LaPlante sheds new light on the Alcott story, a story that is in some ways the story of America."--Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

"A romance... The eye-opener of Eve LaPlante's marvelous new dual biography...is that Abigail was every inch the social philosopher that Bronson was when it came to issues of abolition and women's rights.... Marmee & Louisa charts Abigail's relatively unacknowledged influence as a progressive thinker on her famous daughter Louisa.... When Louisa began to write Little Women... she drew material from her mother's approximately 20 volumes of diaries. Until Abigail's death...she was her daughter's closest confidant and biggest booster."--Maureen Corrigan "NPR "Fresh Air" "

"Eve LaPlante's Marmee & Louisa is a heartwarming and thoroughly researched story of family interdependence very much in the style of Louisa's own unforgettable Little Women. No other biographer has examined so thoughtfully and with such compassion the mother-daughter relationship that supported both women through decades of adversity and brought a great American novel into being."--Megan Marshall, author of The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism andMargaret Fuller: A New American Life

"'Reason and religion are emancipating woman from that intellectual thralldom that has so long held her captive.' That was the dearest hope of Louisa May Alcott's mother Abigail, who was a writer herself and juggled work and family in ways that will be strikingly familiar to many contemporary readers. Marmee & Louisa is the engrossing story of a vibrant, talented woman whose life and influence on her famous daughter has, until now, been erased."--Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University

"[An] involving mother-daughter portrait...and a fresh perspective on Louisa....Louisa's unconventional father, Bronson, has received far more attention than his long-suffering, feminist wife...Her own dreams cruelly thwarted, Abigail brilliantly nurtured Louisa's literary genius. Although bitter ironies mark each woman's story, vividly set within the social upheavals of the Civil War era, their profound love, intellect, and courage shine."--Booklist, starred review

"In this meticulously researched look at Louisa May Alcott and her mother, LaPlante shatters myths about the supposed passive Marmee, replacing them with a portrait of a woman who fought for a woman's right to education, professional and maternal satisfaction, and power."--People Magazine

A November 2012 Indie Next Great Read (American Booksellers Association)

"Engrossing... LaPlante, a descendant of the Alcotts, pursued this untold story after discovering forgotten journals and letters in an attic trunk. In her skilled hands these documents yield Abigail unabridged: a thinker, writer, activist, wife and mother who held fast to her convictions in the face of terrible suffering...[T]his is a biography of Louisa, too, and LaPlante makes a compelling case that it was Abigail, not Bronson, who encouraged Louisa not only to channel her considerable energy through writing, but also to pursue publication and to weather the censorship that female writers faced...In bringing to life the woman who made Louisa May Alcott's work possible, LaPlante shows us that there's even more to admire in the real Abigail than in the fictional Marmee."--The Washington Post

"This revealing biography... will forever change how we view the characters and their relationships in Louisa's novels... Through LaPlante's book we see how Louisa drew heavily from Abigail's life experiences in her own writings.... Alcott fans who revel in LaPlante's biography can read to the very last page and then turn to a bonus... companion volume, MY HEART IS BOUNDLESS, writings of Abigail May Alcott."--USA Today

"A revelatory dual biography... LaPlante makes a convincing case that Abigail's doggedly pragmatic responses to the intertwined and ongoing catastrophes of Bronson's inconsistent emotional involvement and the family finances left an indelible impression on Louisa, who vowed from an early age to take care of her mother... [D]emonstrates that Abigail's daughters were her dreams made manifest."--The Seattle Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1451620675
• ISBN 13: 9781451620672
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384