Read about the other books on the list.Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
It’s been 20 years since I last read Little Women (a YA book before the genre existed), and I can still quote the saddest line from memory: “In the dark hour before dawn, on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath, she quietly drew her last.” Thus died the sweetest of the March sisters, too good for this world.
Little Women also appears among Anjelica Huston's seven favorite coming-of-age books, Bidisha's ten top books about women, Katherine Rundell's top ten descriptions of food in fiction, Gwyneth Rees's ten top books about siblings, Maya Angelou's 6 favorite books, Tim Lewis's ten best Christmas lunches in literature, and on the Observer's list of the ten best fictional mothers, Eleanor Birne's top ten list of books on motherhood, Erin Blakemore's list of five gutsy heroines to channel on an off day, Kate Saunders' critic's chart of mothers and daughters in literature, and Zoë Heller's list of five memorable portraits of sisters. It is a book that disappointed Geraldine Brooks on re-reading.
--Marshal Zeringue