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The Little Women Letters

3.43 of 5 stars 3.43 · rating details · 1,003 ratings · 314 reviews

Vibrant, fresh, and intelligent, The Little Women Letters explores the imagined lives of Jo March’s descendants—three sisters who are both thoroughly modern and thoroughly March. As uplifting and essential as Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Gabrielle Donnelly’s novel will speak to anyone who’s ever fought with a sister, fallen in love with a fabulous pair of shoes, or wo...more Vibrant, fresh, and intelligent, The Little Women Letters explores the imagined lives of Jo March’s descendants—three sisters who are both thoroughly modern and thoroughly March. As uplifting and essential as Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Gabrielle Donnelly’s novel will speak to anyone who’s ever fought with a sister, fallen in love with a fabulous pair of shoes, or wondered what on earth life had in store for her. With her older sister, Emma, planning a wedding and her younger sister, Sophie, preparing to launch a career on the London stage, Lulu can’t help but feel like the failure of the Atwater family. Lulu loves her sisters dearly and wants nothing but the best for them, but she finds herself stuck in a rut, working dead-end jobs with no romantic prospects in sight. When her mother asks her to find a cache of old family recipes in the attic of her childhood home, Lulu stumbles across a collection of letters written by her great-great-grandmother Josephine March. In her letters, Jo writes in detail about every aspect of her life: her older sister, Meg’s, new home and family; her younger sister Amy’s many admirers; Beth’s illness and the family’s shared grief over losing her too soon; and the butterflies she feels when she meets a handsome young German. As Lulu delves deeper into the lives and secrets of the March sisters, she finds solace and guidance, but can the words of her great-great-grandmother help Lulu find a place for herself in a world so different from the one Jo knew?

Some things, of course, remain unchanged: the stories and jokes that form a family’s history, the laughter over tea in the afternoon, the desire to do the right thing in spite of obstacles. And above all, of course, the fierce, undying, and often infuriating bond of sisterhood that links the Atwater women every bit as firmly as it did the March sisters all those years ago. Both a loving tribute to Little Women and a wonderful contemporary family story, The Little Women Letters is a heartwarming, funny, and wise novel for today.(less)

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published June 7th 2011 by Touchstone (first published May 1st 2011)

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Jul 11, 2011 Carolynne rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Maeve Binchy and Marcia Willett

Shelves: family-stories, romance, england, read-on-kindle, adult-fiction, newengland

Lulu, a member of a contemporary London family, reputedly descended from Jo March and her Professor Bhaer, discovers letters to and from the 19th century heroine, mostly unknown to her descendants. The letters for the most part capture Jo's personality and language. Modern readers familiar with _Little Women_ will enjoy the parallels among the four fictional sisters and Lulu and her two sisters: organized, capable Emma and ditsy actress Sophie, both of whom sometimes annoy the free-spirited, qui...more

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May 21, 2011 Diane Sallans rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Loved it! I'm not sure I ever read the original Little Women, but I have watched the movie versions. When reading the letters 'by great-great-grandma Jo' I fluctuated between envisioning June Alyson & Katherine Hepburn. There is a distinct difference in style between the letters and the 'book' sent in current day London and they are perfect. This book is about relationships and family. The characters all grow thru the year that passes and I would love a continuation. This would make a really...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Paula rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’m a huge fan of Louisa M Alcott’s Little Women so this book both intrigued and horrified me in equal measure. Would it be possible to keep the spirit of the March sisters alive with the writing of Alcott? But I needn't have worried because the letters do in fact read like they came from the pen of Jo March (and in turn Alcott).

If you have sisters then you will no doubt relate to the relationship between Emma, Sophie and Lulu and if, like me, you don’t have sisters then this book is going to ma...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Cleo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lulu is the middle sister of the Atwater family. Her older sister Emma is planning for her wedding, and her younger sister Sophie is pursuing an acting career on the stage, so she can't help that she is the failure of the family, not sure what to do with herself. She's working dead-end jobs and has no romantic prospects. But then, as she is looking through the attic for some old family recipes, she finds a collection of letters written by her great-great-grandmother Josephine March. "In her lett...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

As a huge fan of Little Women when I was young, I wasn't sure what to expect of this book. By huge fan, I mean I not only read Little Women; I also read Little Men, and Jo’s Boys, and dreamed about being Jo (for probably obvious reasons). I saw this book on a table in B & N and was intrigued but wary. I didn’t buy it then. I was afraid that it would ruin my memories, since most tribute books are pretty awful. But I looked at it every time I went to the book store. I eventually bought it, but...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Pamela rated it 4 of 5 stars

To be honest, my opinion about this book is split. The Little Women angle is wonderful. Modern day Lulu finds a cache of letters in her mother's attic that are correspondences between the original March sisters, much as they would have been as they grew older through the years. The letters were so well-written and true to Alcott's characters that at times I forgot that they were written by Donnelly. I really enjoyed imagining what sort of lives the March sisters would have lived and how graceful...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Beth_Adele rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I grew up with the March sisters, despite having many sisters of my own, (none of whom are particularly close to me in age so in childhood I was more like an only child in that sense- thankfully over the years we have all forged much closer bonds) the March sisters were MY sisters.
I loved each and every one of them, for different reasons and every time I sit down to read Little Women I find something new, even after re-reading it over and over again for the last 30 years.

I approached this book...more I grew up with the March sisters, despite having many sisters of my own, (none of whom are particularly close to me in age so in childhood I was more like an only child in that sense- thankfully over the years we have all forged much closer bonds) the March sisters were MY sisters.
I loved each and every one of them, for different reasons and every time I sit down to read Little Women I find something new, even after re-reading it over and over again for the last 30 years.

I approached this book cautiously. Not wanting to have MY March sisters defiled in any way. Whilst Donnelly, to her credit, did not butcher our girls, I was left with an odd taste in my mouth. I didn't hate the book, in fact I quite enjoyed it, although the mother really irritated me. A LOT. Can't quite put my finger on why though, only she really annoyed me.

Some might find talking incessantly about dead relatives they never knew weird and perhaps far fetched, but that's fairly par for the course in my family. We talk about relatives long dead, even ones we never knew, a lot. So I never found that part of the story strange as some have stated that they did.

What I did like about this book was the sisterly relationships, and how we sometimes form them with women who aren't necessarily our sisters by blood. It's refreshing to read a book where all the female relationships were ultimately about loving and supporting each other, rising above petty jealousies and not scheming behind each others backs. (I get very tired of women being portrayed as constant adversaries)

Which is probably why I loved Little Women in the first place. That even though they sometimes did things to each other out of spite, they never deliberately sabotaged each other or schemed or plotted each others public humiliation/downfall. They loved each other as sisters and genuinely liked each other as women.

There is a touch of 'forced feminism' in here. By that I mean the feminist talk often seems forced, not natural. I don't need to be bludgeoned on the head by it. (Which is how it sometimes feels, and I think I just figured out why the mother irritates me so very much)

I will probably read this one again (a few times) as if you don't take it too seriously it is a rather light and enjoyable read. And MY March sisters remain intact.
(less)

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Dec 08, 2011 Sonia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Quand'è l'ultima volta che leggendo un libro vi siete sentiti felici, perché ogni pagina vi regalava una nuova emozione, un ricordo, un sentimento lontano che pensavate di aver perduto, un momento del vostro passato che credevate non sarebbe tornato più così facilmente?
L'ultima volta in cui, giunti all'ultima pagina di quella storia, avete dovuto ricorrere al fazzoletto e far sparire immediatamente quella lacrima che proprio non ce l'ha fatta a trattenersi? Lacrima che non è stata l'unica: altre...more

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Nov 13, 2011 Jill Furedy rated it 3 of 5 stars

As I read this book, I realized that in my head, I had somehow made Little Women into a history book instead of a novel. I kept thinking things like, 'these letters sound so accurate, I wonder if they were based on actual letters'...you know, from fictional Jo March to her fictional sisters. Insert head slap here. So I liked those portions of the book, right up until the last letter, which I couldn't make the leap to buy into. There were a lot of things that bothered me about the book though...l...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Lynette rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: I would recommend this book to any one who likes the "Little Women"collection.

I was very surprised by this book. I grew up reading the Little Woman books. So I was unsure if I would like this but. the author did a really good job. Kept to the basic of the little woman story but gave it a modern twist. By putting it as letters that the current generation's granddaughter finds I thought was awesome. The book is not a spin off or a copy. The Little Woman letters. Is more like a sequel no not right. (An addition.) It takes the story of Little Women story and brings it to the...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Northwestreader rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is Little Women fast forwarded 150 years and across the Atlantic Ocean. We meet the three Atwater sisters in London. The Atwaters are the descendants of the famous March family as presented to us by Louisa May Alcott.
The Atwater sisters mirror the March sisters and it is a cleverly constructed story which has its linking through some old family letters that are found in the Atwater attic. Like the March family, the Atwater family has a strong mother figure, a father who is often away, and a...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Christine Jensen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fire-and-ice-reviews

I have to confess something...I am a big fan of the original Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. When I was pregnant with my oldest child (my first and only daughter, to be followed by four boys) I really wanted to name her Jo because of Little Women. I thought Josephine was a bit heavy for a young girl, so chose the name Joelle instead, intending to call her Jo.Well, she turned out to be very feminine and Jo just doesn't fit, but the fact that she was named for THE Jo illustrates what a huge fan...more I have to confess something...I am a big fan of the original Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. When I was pregnant with my oldest child (my first and only daughter, to be followed by four boys) I really wanted to name her Jo because of Little Women. I thought Josephine was a bit heavy for a young girl, so chose the name Joelle instead, intending to call her Jo.Well, she turned out to be very feminine and Jo just doesn't fit, but the fact that she was named for THE Jo illustrates what a huge fan I am of the original book.

When this book arrived with three others, I chose to read it first. The concept drew me in and I had to get started right away. But, I have to admit that it started off a little bit slow. I struggled to connect, at first, with the characters. But I continued on, determined to finish, and something amazing happened. Bit by bit, I came to love each character. Emma's sensible nature, Lulu's desire never to settle until she found what she loved, and Sophie's enthusiasm for life drew me in. Fee, the Marmee figure, was a fun, independent mother who taught her girls to be strong, loving women. The women (all descendants of Jo March who knew very little of her life) resemble the three surviving sisters in Little Women, yet they have their own quirks and their stories don't always follow the path you think.

I love the mix of modern day with letters from the past. We see more of the original March sisters through letters written by Jo to her sisters or Marmee. Lulu slowly learns the story of the March sisters through these letters (in this book, Little Women does not exist) and embraces her heritage.

My love for this book didn't develop like a traditional romance. It took time. You know the kind I mean, right? Where you meet someone and he seems like and alright guy, but just not for you. The next time you see him to you notice his expressive eyes and friendly smile, but no sparks. A few days later you run into each other at the store and when he shakes your hand you get that butterfly feeling in your stomach and it takes you by surprise. Next thing you know you are sitting together at dinner discussing the future.

Do you need to have read Little Women to enjoy this book? Probably. You need to understand the characters of Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy and Marmee to see their connection with the Atwater women. That isn't to say that someone who hasn't read Little Women would dislike this book, but your enjoyment would not be the same. You won't be mentally drawing parallels and contrasting the events that occurred in the original with the story in The Little Women Letters.

My Rating: 4.5 stars (yes, I know, I said it was slow to start but when I finished I sighed and though..."wow that was a great book)

Content: Clean, possibly mild cursing, but nothing I noticed

I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. No further compensation was received.(less)

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Aug 16, 2011 Maia B. rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Little Women, or anyone wanting a feel-good story

Shelves: love-it, too-short, practically-perfect, strong-heroine

This book and I met in the Strand, where it was on sale half-price, which is pretty much why I bought it. (And it has a connection to Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." Obviously.) I was doubtful - no one, I thought, could write letters as if they were Jo March's, and no one could invent events as much fun as in the original book. A modern family of sisters to compare with the Marches? I don't think so.

Ha! I was so wrong.

The first two pages convinced me that I had been hideously judgemental, an...more This book and I met in the Strand, where it was on sale half-price, which is pretty much why I bought it. (And it has a connection to Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." Obviously.) I was doubtful - no one, I thought, could write letters as if they were Jo March's, and no one could invent events as much fun as in the original book. A modern family of sisters to compare with the Marches? I don't think so.

Ha! I was so wrong.

The first two pages convinced me that I had been hideously judgemental, and that this was a book I will cherish forever and probably never forget, even though that is a horrible hackneyed term. It's true, though. One of Jo's letters appears on the very first page, and it sounds so authentically Jo March that I had to blink and rub my eyes a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming, or something. Jo's letters, interspersed through the book, were worth the price alone - and the plot threads of the modern-day Atwater family were just as good.

Lulu Atwater, the middle Atwater sister, finds a packet of her great-grandmother's (great-great? rats, can't remember) letters in the attic of her parents' house in London, and as she goes through a crisis of having no idea what to do with her life she reads the letters. Her other two sisters, Emma, the older, and Sophie, the younger, have their own plots, which are just as engrossing, and I was surprised to find myself on the edge of my seat, drumming my fingers anxiously on the table, when the plot takes a turn for the worse and one of our sisters ends up in a possibly fatal situation. (No more spoilers, promise.)

The three sisters really caught me up in their troubles and I cheered for them all the way. Emma, who is just a bit too perfect - calm, controlled, steady, easily pleased, rarely angry, blah blah blah - showed some signs of character flaws after the first few chapters, thank heaven, and I really liked her after the Josephine shoe drama. Lulu is a very attractive character even if she didn't have quite enough gumption and didn't seem to know what on earth she was doing with herself; but she's still a great character, because she recovers by the end, and Sophie, who is irresponsible, carefree, and extremely beautiful, was lots of fun. All the peripheral characters interested me, too - Charlie, Jamie, Tom, Fee, David, okay, I'm not going to list all the peripheral characters, there are too many.

Most books I dash off in a day, but I made myself savor this one for two or three, wanting to stay in the Atwaters' world for a bit longer. It's a lovely place to visit. The ending was satisfying and it was character-driven enough that I definitely, definitely got my money's worth. (Especially since it was half-price.)

So, after this wonderful, light, cheerful book, my world has gone very rosy-colored. It's lovely.

Will there be a sequel? When is the movie?(less)

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Jul 27, 2011 Susan Bailey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sigh. Another good friend to bid adieu to. That’s how I felt when I finished The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly. I became very attached to the London-based Atwater sisters (Emma, Lulu and Sophie) and their family and friends and appreciated the guiding hand of “Grandma Jo,” aka Jo March from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
“New letters” by Jo March

That’s right. In this story, Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy and Marmee are true characters and ancestors of the Atwaters. Lulu accidentally comes upo...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Bee rated it 3 of 5 stars

LITTLE WOMEN is one of my all-time favorite books, so I approached THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS with a hefty amount of trepidation, ready to give up quickly if it was crummy. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and it was the perfect book for a 12-hour roadtrip. Wish I could give half stars -- it's a solid 3.5 for me.

Based on the premise of Jo March's great-great-granddaughters as modern day British women, it follows the stories of Lulu, Emma, and Sophie throughout the course of a year. From th...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Denise rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Little Women Letters begins with one of the descendants of Jo March finding a bunch of Grandma Jo's letters in her mother's attic. Lulu is struggling with some career decisions and its harder that her two sisters seem to have it all figured out. A bit of an odd duck with her bushy hair and prickly personality, Lulu finds exactly the advice and encouragement she needs in the letters. The story centers on Lulu, but also involves a whole host of the women surrounding her including an extravagan...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Carla Ford rated it 5 of 5 stars

As a huge fan of LITTLE WOMEN, I wasn't sure what to expect of this book. I could always put LITTLE WOMEN in it's contextual place, women were sweet, knew there place, and always persevered and never felt sorry for themselves, because there was always someone suffering worse. However, it was a little harder to imagine what a modern day Alcott family would be like. Finding out the answer to that question in this delightful novel was a great read! The great great granddaughters of Josephine March,...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I received this book as part of a first-reads giveaway.

I found The Little Women Letters to be a very enjoyable novel. It's a great summer read.
The characters in it are easy to relate to and I really cared about them by the end of the novel.
The novel focuses on three sisters. Lulu the middle sister, is at a crossroads in her life. She's having trouble deciding the career path to take and also has difficulty with finding love. Emma, her older sister, is wrapped up in planning a wedding to her fia...more

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Jun 16, 2011 Jessica at Book Sake rated it 4 of 5 stars

I wasn't sure how the characters from Little Women were going to play into this book, but I have to say that Ms. Donnelly did a great job integrating the March women as relatives of the current day Atwater family. These three sisters, as well as Charlie, who is a close friend and gets somewhat adopted into the family, all face some serious life decisions, similar to those in the original Little Women. The story focuses on Lulu, the middle sister, who is going through a "what do I do with my life...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Eliza rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://labibliotecadieliza.blogspot.i...

Davanti alla parola "seguito" storcete il naso, vi girate dall'altra parte e vi date alla fuga? Bhè in questo caso vi direi , invece, di aspettare un attimo e di dare una possibilità a questo libro, che seguito vuole esserlo ma a modo suo.
L'autrice immagina che le sorelle March abbiano avuto una lunga discendenza ancora viva e vegeta nella Londra dei nostri giorni. Qui, infatti, vivono Lulu, Emma e Sophie, tre sorelle molto legate tra loro proprio come le...more http://labibliotecadieliza.blogspot.i...

Davanti alla parola "seguito" storcete il naso, vi girate dall'altra parte e vi date alla fuga? Bhè in questo caso vi direi , invece, di aspettare un attimo e di dare una possibilità a questo libro, che seguito vuole esserlo ma a modo suo.
L'autrice immagina che le sorelle March abbiano avuto una lunga discendenza ancora viva e vegeta nella Londra dei nostri giorni. Qui, infatti, vivono Lulu, Emma e Sophie, tre sorelle molto legate tra loro proprio come le protagoniste di Piccole Donne. Emma è quella saggia e posata, che lavora e si sta per sposare con l'amore della sua vita; Lulu è molto intelligente, è laureata, avrebbe un grande futuro accademico ma non ne vuole sentir parlare (letteralmente) e passa da un lavoro all'altro, senza sapere cosa fare, neanche dal punto di vista sentimentale; Sophie è l'artista di famiglia, l'attrice dal carattere esuberante e impulsivo. Vivono le loro vite, i loro successi e le loro delusioni, ma su di loro aleggia sempre lo spirito della bis bis bis nonna Jo, eccentrica e volitiva antenata con il pallino per la scrittura. Lulu la conosce un giorno per caso, cercando un ricettario in soffitta, trovando le sue lettere. Leggendole scopre una Jo a lei molto affine sotto molti punti di vista e con lei capirà che in fondo nella vita si può essere se stessi e essere felici.
Il libro ha uno spunto molto carino, un po' continuazione un po' parallelo del celebre romanzo di Louisa May Alcott. Io il libro della Alcott l'ho letto ormai parecchio tempo fa (ma mi è venuta voglia di riprenderlo in mano) e con piacere qui ho ritrovato molti temi, episodi o semplici frasi, che mi hanno fatto affezionare anche a Lulu, Emma e Sophie. Proprio come la famiglia March, anche quella delle nostre tre protagoniste è una famiglia un po' atipica, con una madre, Fee, femminista e hippie, e il padre David, che è oramai assuefatto alle bizzarrie della moglie e delle figlie.
Ho trovato molto carina l'idea di inserire le lettere sparse nel racconto "moderno", anche senza un filo cronologico, ma solo quando la lettera è necessaria in un determinato momento. Le ho trovate divertenti e, leggendole, vi ho ritrovato la Jo che ricordavo dalla mia infanzia.
Un bel romanzo che la Donnelly ha sapientemente creato, senza "sfruttare" Piccole Donne, cosa che nessuno gli avrebbe perdonato, ma usandolo con giudizio per creare una sua storia e dei suoi personaggi.
L'unica pecca è che ogni tanto l'attenzione scemava dietro qualche descrizione troppo prolungata...ma ho voluto cercare il pelo nell'uovo!(less)

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Feb 24, 2013 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I definitely approached this book with trepidation, but I can never really resist a tribute novel and especially not one to Little Women, a book that had a huge impact on me as a young reader. I've read Little Women, Little Men, and Jo's Boys all several times each, and of course seen the 1995 movie (and fallen in love with Laurie!). If I have a daughter one day, either her first or middle name will be Josephine after Jo - she just remains one of the most captivating, mesmerizing literary heroin...more I definitely approached this book with trepidation, but I can never really resist a tribute novel and especially not one to Little Women, a book that had a huge impact on me as a young reader. I've read Little Women, Little Men, and Jo's Boys all several times each, and of course seen the 1995 movie (and fallen in love with Laurie!). If I have a daughter one day, either her first or middle name will be Josephine after Jo - she just remains one of the most captivating, mesmerizing literary heroines I've come across.

That said, this book wasn't awful, but it wasn't amazing either. I'll never re-read it, but I don't feel like it was a waste of time. The premise is cute - a descendent of Jo March, Lulu Atwater, finds Jo's old letters to her sisters Amy, Meg, and Beth in Lulu's family's attic. The story unfolds going back and forth between Jo's letters and Lulu and her own sisters' lives in England (which I thought was a strange setting: why not just keep the story in Concord, Massachusetts? What did setting it in England really add to the novel? It just made me confused as to why an American woman would bring boxes and boxes of old family papers and artifacts with her when she moved to London to marry an Englishman. Did she ship them there? Smuggle them all with her on the airplane? Definite plot hole).

There are a few twists in the novel that were unexpected and appreciated, but there are also a lot of predictable events and of course at the end everything gets wrapped up very neatly. But sometimes that's nice to read. I thought all the male characters were completely one-dimensional and flat - very unrealistic. The women were better developed but still seemed more like characters than actual people. I liked Emma the best and thought she seemed the most fleshed-out. Charlie? What was her role? A fairy god-mother type friend who, aside from falling in love with a perfect man, seemed to exist solely to fund her friends' expensive lives and lend them her expensive clothes. Not exactly realistic! I also agree with other reviewers that the mother was definitely NOT a Marmee. She was really annoying, nosy, and sanctimonious. And her husband's "other wife Claire" - now that was just a weird "joke" that was odd and led to a "twist" that was quickly brushed under the carpet and forgotten about, with only vague references to later. Overall, the Atwater family's sense of humour just struck me as bizarre bordering on cruel and uncomfortable. But maybe my family is just too nice?

What kept me reading were the letters from Jo interspersed throughout. I thought the author did a great job at capturing the spirit of Jo in the letters, although I sometimes thought Jo's deliberately grammatical incorrectness was a bit much (enough with the "ain't"s!. And the man she first falls in love with - hmm, I didn't think Jo would have been the type to go for him, but who am I to guess at what a fictional character would or would not have done. It just didn't seem in line with the woman you get to know through Alcott's original three books.

If you're a big fan of Little Women, it's nice to see one person's interpretation of what came next for the sisters, and to read the little vignettes of life for the March sisters. Most of all, this book just made me want to read the original Little Women again, because nothing beats the classic.

(less)

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Oct 21, 2011 Sam rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit, fiction, library, romance

As a rule, I don't read much chick lit. But when I heard about Gabrielle Donnelly's The Little Women Letters, based on the idea of descendants of the March sisters, I knew I would have to read it. And as a fun, cosy, cold night read it didn't disappoint.

Emma, Lulu and Sophie Atwater are three sisters living in modern London. Emma is getting married, Sophie is trying to become an actress and middle-sister Lulu is just trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. When Lulu finds a stas...more As a rule, I don't read much chick lit. But when I heard about Gabrielle Donnelly's The Little Women Letters, based on the idea of descendants of the March sisters, I knew I would have to read it. And as a fun, cosy, cold night read it didn't disappoint.

Emma, Lulu and Sophie Atwater are three sisters living in modern London. Emma is getting married, Sophie is trying to become an actress and middle-sister Lulu is just trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. When Lulu finds a stash of letters written by her Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Jo in the loft, she finds that Jo's story and the story of all the March girls has surprising relevance to all of their lives.

Where I felt that this book excelled was the portrayal of the relationships between the female characters, and especially between the sisters. I have an older sister I am very close too and I thought that Donnelly did a great job of portraying how close that relationship can be and how your sister can annoy you more than anyone else! The mother-daughter relationships were well written too.

Contrastingly, a lot of the male characters fell a bit flat. The Dad was one-dimensional and reduced to a few jokes about secretly yearning for a more traditional woman. Emma's fiance was too nice. Sophie's best friend Jamie was the stereotype long suffering best friend. Compared to the female characters, there was no real character development; I know this is chick lit, but I do like strong male characters too.

As with a lot of chick lit, everything was tied up neatly at the end, and to be honest it was a bit too neat for me. Characters were introduced simply to make other characters happy, something that wouldn't happen in real life. Everyone was happy. Now that's nice to read about every now and again, but overall I prefer chick lit written by the likes of Marian Keyes, where there is just a touch more grit.

All of this is not to say that I didn't enjoy this book. I did. It was a cute, fun read that I enjoyed picking up after a long day. And the idea of being descended from Jo March is undeniably cool.(less)

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Sep 01, 2011 Marianne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011reads, chicklit, family, friendship, letters

I read Little Women so much growing up that when I saw this book it almost became a must have. It's an interesting and fun concept - a woman finding the letters of her ancestor who just so happened to be Jo March and the author is very successful with it. We have a modern day family (the Atwaters) with three sisters (Emma - the Meg equivelant, Lulu - the Jo who finds the letters and Sophie - the Amy) who can trace their line via their mother back to Boston and the infamous 'Grandma Jo' - a legen...more I read Little Women so much growing up that when I saw this book it almost became a must have. It's an interesting and fun concept - a woman finding the letters of her ancestor who just so happened to be Jo March and the author is very successful with it. We have a modern day family (the Atwaters) with three sisters (Emma - the Meg equivelant, Lulu - the Jo who finds the letters and Sophie - the Amy) who can trace their line via their mother back to Boston and the infamous 'Grandma Jo' - a legendary figure within the family that the sisters have long since grown tired of hearing about. Their mother asks Lulu to go look through some old things in the attic and she finds these old letters, written by a young Jo March to her sisters and so begins her obsession with getting to know the ancestor she has previously shown no interest in.

The author successfully captures the individual voices of the very different strong female characters in the book and in particular the letters from Jo feel like they could have been written by the Jo March from the original books. The modern characters have a very sibling like relationship and although there are a few minor niggles (I found Lulu a little irritating at times - she was supposed to represent a modern Jo but lacked the warmth at times), the representation of strong female relationships without the man bashing that happens elsewhere was one that I welcomed. It's strange to have a book like this that doesn't actually have much to do with romance (Emma's wedding is a subplot, but not really a major issue) - and I felt like the actual romance, although well done, was a bit of a late addition to the story - perhaps an editor somewhere figured that you couldn't possibly have a book where the main character doesn't find a boyfriend at the end of it, but regardless, it was cute and didn't really detract. In fact, and I am probably a traitor to my sex for saying this, but I found it refreshing that for 90% of the book that the most intriguing romance story in it was Lulu discovering who it was that Jo ended up with. That's not to say that Lulu finally finding a man wasn't a nice touch, it was just nice not to have to spend so much of the book with a will they/won't they sort of thing.

I think this book would appeal to a lot of people - both fans of the original books and people unfamiliar with it, who will hopefully check out the originals on the back of this. If you want a fun way to kill a couple of evenings then this is definitely the type of book I think you would enjoy.(less)

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Aug 09, 2011 Merand rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had a difficult time getting into this book, mostly due to the constant bickering and teasing of the sisters. I thought, I have two sisters and we don't argue this much and we're not the best of friends either. But perseverance pays off because as the book progresses, so do the characters and your able to deal with any bickering in order to enjoy the rest of the story. And when the big thing you've been waiting for happens (I won't give it away) the pleasure and shock is just so sweet.

The real...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

This book is, in a word, beautiful-beautifully written, beautifully characterized; and a beautiful homage to a story that means so much to so many of us. While some of Louisa May Alcott's writing is a bit sentimental for my taste (A Long Fatal Love Chase), I loved Little Women as a girl and recall it fondly now, I must have cried an ocean with each reading as Beth dies. Donnelly has written a wonderfully and lushly emotional book that touched my heart.

Like Jane Austen, Alcott wrote characters wh...more

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Jun 17, 2011 SheilaRaeO rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Little Women

Shelves: first-reads

Gabrielle Donnelly has written a superbly imagined family future for the descendents of the March sisters. No matter how much things change - they stay the same. It was creative and entertaining how the lives of the modern day sisters (great-great granddaughters of Jo March) mirrored the lives and experiences of the original Little Women. When Lulu Atwater is sent up to the attic to find some old family recipes, she instead finds a treasure of long forgotten letters written by Great-great grandm...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Actually, this giveaway closed on June 13 and the book arrived June 14th--but the option to acknowledge receipt didn't appear to many days later. Matters not---I started the book as soon as it arrived and finished it this morning over coffee! Only one complaint--I like the cover of my copy -- a girls hand and a red rose over an open letter better than the clothes rack on the actual cover.

Now to my review--as you can see I've given the book five stars, not a common rating by me. I'm not sure why-...more Actually, this giveaway closed on June 13 and the book arrived June 14th--but the option to acknowledge receipt didn't appear to many days later. Matters not---I started the book as soon as it arrived and finished it this morning over coffee! Only one complaint--I like the cover of my copy -- a girls hand and a red rose over an open letter better than the clothes rack on the actual cover.

Now to my review--as you can see I've given the book five stars, not a common rating by me. I'm not sure why--or better to say--I'm not sure I know how to verbalize why. Do you have sisters? Did you love Little Women? Who was your favorite---Jo, the outspoken, Beth the adorable and tragic, Meg the domestic one or Amy the cute one who stole Laurie's heart? I always related to Jo--and in this novel so does Lulu--the middle sister of the Atwater clan. She, Emma, the settled and stable eldest, and Sophie, the irrepresible youngest,an aspiring serious actress are the latest generation of the Marsh clan,descended, on their mother's side, from Jo.

Donnelly does a remarkable job of interweaving the two groups of girls through Lulu's discovery, in her parents' dusty, spider-infested attic, of letters exchanged among the Marsh girls. Jo is left at home, seemingly destined for spinsterhood. This is a situation to which Lulu feels she can relate, especially since, as a 25 year old college graduate, she still hasn't settled on a life's work nor has she a boyfriend, although, this being the 21st century she is sharing a flat with a rich female friend. Amy is newly married and on her honeymoon in Europe with Laurie. Emma is engaged and soon to be married and quite decided on her life's path or so it seems. Meg is married to a dependable, quiet sort--much like Emma's Matthew --and has two children. Probably the sort of life Emma will have. Beth, of course, has died and her memory weighs heavily on her sisters, particularly Jo. In the modern group, Sophie, comes close to dying. This event causes her sisters to contemplate what it would mean to have one of them gone.

In Little Women Mr Marsh is present only through letters but his marriage to Mrs Marsh and their relationship is the foundation and security which stabilizes and supports the Marsh girls and so, too, David and Fee's marriage provides the anchor for the young women in modern London. But in no way is the story of the Atwater's a mirror image of the Marsh family. Instead, the letters help to clarify for Lulu how much life has changed in over 150 years and yet how much remains the same. How much the history of a family carries down through the generations and informs the present. Lulu keeps the letters for herself for most of the story --for herself and for us--and they bolster her through her time of indecision and self discovery. They also speak to all of us who have had sisters or who have daughters or who have extended families of women--but really for all those female interelationships--there simply is nothing like having real sisters and all the joy, aggravation, irritation, love, grief, anger, happiness, stress, jealousy, sharing that that entails.

Ms Donnelly wrote a beautiful book -- you'll delight in reading it.

(less)

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Feb 17, 2013 EL rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you haven't read Little Women, then I would imagine The Little Women Letters doesn't make a huge amount of sense - certainly a lot of the nuances would be lost.

But if you're one of the huge number of people for whom, like me, Louisa May Alcott's book and its sequels was an unforgettable part of childhood, this won't disappoint.

I really liked how Donnelly re-imagined letters from Jo to her sisters, based partly on events from the original novel. These give an insight into her character, and in...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Althea rated it 4 of 5 stars

I usually despise these books that take beloved classics and twist them all around to add a "modern" slant, so I started reading this with a healthy skepticism. But since this one didn't involve Beth rising as a zombie, or Meg leaving John because she realized she was a lesbian, or any of the other many "creative" takes that are so popular these days, I thought I'd keep an open mind and give it a go. And I have to admit: I was very pleasantly surprised. This book is really about the lives of the...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Anika rated it 2 of 5 stars

The idea of Jo March's descendants telling a story seemed compelling to me. Then I started reading this book and I can't help but feel disappointed. The protagonist, for the most part, is Lulu who i think is the one to resemble Jo. That's where the whole problem starts: all the women in this book are somehow like the women we already know from "Little Women" - only not as written as beautifully. Her older sister Emma is clearly like Meg and her younger sister is Amy. The only one missing is Beth...more

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