Marmee and Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother by Eve LaPlante

Mar 24, 2013 Kyrianna rated it 3 of 5 stars

I LOVE THIS STORY! First off I loved the fact that someone had an interest in finding out the truth not only about a beloved writter but of Family. Family really is important. For a non fiction book the writting style really did keep me entertained which I gotta admit I wasn't expecting. This book also made me realize how people really do influence our lives wheather we know it or not! If you love Little Women you will love this book!

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Dec 08, 2012 Gina Enk rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ah, the Alcotts! I first read Little Women when I was about seven and then read my way through all of Alcott's children's books (several times each). While my collection stayed on my bookshelf and moved with me from place to place, I didn't re-read until I read Geraldine Brooks's fabulous historical fiction novel, March. Happily, there have been a lot of Alcott related books published recently. This one is really well researched, interesting and even infuriating at times as Bronson Alcott plowed...more

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Jun 19, 2013 Sheri rated it 2 of 5 stars

The subtitle says it all -- the story of Louisa May Alcott & her mother (Abigail, a/k/a Marmee). The best thing about this book is how well it conveys the slave-like lives of women in the 19th century, even the lives of middle-class & upper-class women. Like many of the best biographies, LaPlante's book also links her subjects (Abigail & Louisa) to the events and personalities of their era. People like William Lloyd Garrison, Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Samuel May, etc. -- the...more

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May 01, 2013 Terryann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: advanced-copy, audio, grownups-nonfiction, lj-books-reviewed

LaPlante, Eve. Marmee & Luisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother. Unabridged. 12 CDs. 14.5 Hours. Tantor. 2013. ISBN: 978-1-4526-1046-7. $39.99. F

Louisa May Alcott is one of the most iconic female writers of all time. A trailblazer and mainstay in American Literature, Louisa has always been framed by historians as her father’s daughter, molded in his image. LaPlante reveals in her diligent investigation that while Bronson Alcott certainly influenced Louisa, he absent, dist...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Jaylia3 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Louisa May Alcott’s mother Abigail (or Marmee) gets her due by being front and center in this informative, fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking book. Although much more has been written about Louisa’s idealistic but self-centered father Bronson Alcott, author Eve LaPlante makes a convincing case that it was her mother Louisa was closest to and most like.

Abigail was a lively, convention breaking young woman, and was at least as bent on improving the world as her husband--for instance she emb...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Francesca rated it 5 of 5 stars

Like perhaps millions of other girls before me, I loved reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. She identified with Jo March and thrilled to her struggle to transcend the restrictive notions about women in 19th century America — or twentieth century America, for that matter. What I didn’t know was how much Louisa May Alcott’s own family was the model for her classic bestseller — sometimes in an idealized version, as with the character of Jo and her sisters’ father. But the portrayal of the gir...more Like perhaps millions of other girls before me, I loved reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. She identified with Jo March and thrilled to her struggle to transcend the restrictive notions about women in 19th century America — or twentieth century America, for that matter. What I didn’t know was how much Louisa May Alcott’s own family was the model for her classic bestseller — sometimes in an idealized version, as with the character of Jo and her sisters’ father. But the portrayal of the girls’ mother Marmee was truer than anyone knew — until now.
That’s because Eve LaPlante’s new book, Marmee and Louisa reveals for the first time the intense and close personal relationship between Louisa May Alcott and her mother Abigail — and yes, she did call her mother Marmee.
Scholars and authors have long focussed on Alcott’s relationship to her father — almost certainly because plenty of documentary evidence of that relationship survives. Many of her mother’s papers were destroyed after her death. But as Abigail May Alcott’s great niece, LaPlante had access to a cache of previously unexamined family papers.
They led her to a new understanding of the mother-daughter bond between Abigail and Louisa — and the profound influence of that relationship on Louisa’s work and her ideas about women’s rights and slavery. Eve LaPlante’s fascinating dual biography breaks new ground in a gripping and sensitive narrative that reveals not only the past, but how the struggles of yesterday’s women continue to hold much relevance to our lives today.
Eve LaPlante is the author of several other nonfiction books, including American Jezebel, about her ancestor Anne Hutchinson, and Salem Witch Judge, about another ancestor who repented of his role in the Salem witch trials and became an abolitionist and feminist.
Marmee and Louisa is being released with a companion volume of Abigail May Alcott’s writing, MY HEART IS BOUNDLESS.
Listen to my interview with Eve LaPlante on the weekly radio book show and podcast Writers Voice:
http://www.writersvoice.net/2013/03/l...(less)

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Feb 21, 2013 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-autobiography

Almost more than a biography, Eve LaPlante's Marmee and Louisa reads like a romance novel: a love affair between a mother and a daughter; a love affair between Eve LaPlante and her great-aunt, Abigail May Alcott. It occurs to me that LaPlante fell in love with her great-aunt the day she discovered Abigail's forgotten letters, in the attic of her home. The act of discovery itself reads like an early Louisa May romance.

I, too, fell in love with the real Marmee, if truth be told. Within these pages...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars

This biography of "Little Women" author Louisa May Alcott and her mother, Abigail May Alcott, the inspiration for Marmee is written by a descendant of the Alcotts who found a trove of letters and journals in a family attic. It's an absolutely fascinating account of Abigail's life and travails as the wife of the brilliant, but impratical husband Bronson Alcott. Abigail was born into the Boston Brahmins, but suffered a huge reversal of fortunes when she aligned her wagon to Bronson Alcott. Bronson...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

I mowed through this book in six days. It's brilliant. The author weaves all the major historical events of the time with the lives of the women, Abigail and Louisa May Alcott, seamlessly, comparing their struggles against that of women and slaves in the country throughout this turbulent time in American history.

I grew up reading "Little Women" and have considered it one of my most influential and important books, but I never bothered to research the woman who wrote it. Louisa and her mother we...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: alcott, biography, writers

Through the description of this close mother-daughter bond, we finally have a realistic picture of the Alcott family dynamics. Eve LaPlante, using original letters and journal fragments she inherited from her May forbears, discusses what should have been obvious: Abigail May Alcott was the main influence on Louisa Mae Alcott, not her father, Bronson.

This book challenges conventional wisdom on the Alcott family. The Pulitzer Prize winning Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Fa ...more Through the description of this close mother-daughter bond, we finally have a realistic picture of the Alcott family dynamics. Eve LaPlante, using original letters and journal fragments she inherited from her May forbears, discusses what should have been obvious: Abigail May Alcott was the main influence on Louisa Mae Alcott, not her father, Bronson.

This book challenges conventional wisdom on the Alcott family. The Pulitzer Prize winning Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Fatherfocuses on Bronson as an influence, with Abigail in the background. Louisa May Alcott credits Bronson Alcott's work on abolition, but LaPlante shows he was originally uncertain about slavery (p. 142) and when he changed his thinking, his contributions to the cause was miniscule (especially when compared to those of his May in-laws). Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women comes much closer to LaPlante's rendering, giving a sympathetic portrait of Abigail Mae Alcott and how well she managed her plight.

How did it happen that Bronson Alcott was credited with influencing his daughter's literary development? Did we really need these new papers to see the true dynamic? Conventional wisdom recognizes the March Family as the "May" Family; Marmee is loving, wise and, well, perfect, and the March father never present. But conventional wisdom has ignored Bronson's long absences, his taking young children into his Fruitlands experiment, and his total unwillingness or inability to support his family.

LaPlante shows how Abigail made the best of a very bad situation. Her hands were tied. She had no right to her own property, inheritance, earnings or children. Even those promoting the cause of abolition (a cause more dear to Mrs. Alcott than her husband) barred women from their meetings. She was the full emotional and financial support for all four girls. In divorce she would lose her children, and they would lose her and be with their prodigal father. For the sake of her children Abigail worked hard and succeeded as a mother and head of household. Louisa, as is shown in this book, was most like Abigail in thought and temperament. Bronson notes this, in ways that show disrespect to both.

The material presented here shows a much higher feminist consciousness than has been presented before. While in her writing life, Louisa chose best sellers over feminist tracts, she created strong female characters and supported the causes of woman's rights. Some of the quotes show deep emotion on women's issues.

While the book shows the strong bond between mother and daughter, there is another, very strong bond presented: brother and sister. Abigail's brother, Samuel Johnson May, is very much involved with his sister's family, He is impressive and worth a biography of his own. A brave abolitionist and staunch feminist, he personally aided over 1000 slaves through the Underground Railroad and stood up to crowds that fought against education for free blacks. He supported women's membership and right to speak in the abolition movement and in churches. He was a friend of the more famous William Lloyd Garrison, who spoke at his funeral. May is a founder of the Syracuse Public Library and forced Cornell University to accept women as a condition of the donation of his papers.

While the narrative is not boring, I wanted to be a page turner, and it wasn't. It is for the content that I'm giving it a 5 star rating and not 4.
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Dec 31, 2012 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Marmee & Louisa" was a fascinating look at America before, during and after the Civil War. It is the story of Louisa May Alcott and her amazing mother. They counted many well-known historical figures among their friends and family. Abigail, (Marmee), was John Hancock's niece and related to Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams. Their friends included Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Susan B. Anthony, Emerson and Thoreau. Abigail Alcott was very well-connected in Boston society with...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Dindy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I was surprised when a young woman asked me who Louisa May Alcott was. I told her that if you were a girl who was raised anytime up into the 1970's, you probably grew up reading her books. It kind of saddened me to think that this is probably not true today, because when I was growing up, I read everything Alcott wrote, some of them several times.

With Marmee and Louisa, I learned about the life of a woman for whom I have always had a great deal of admiration. In some ways, it was like reading a...more I was surprised when a young woman asked me who Louisa May Alcott was. I told her that if you were a girl who was raised anytime up into the 1970's, you probably grew up reading her books. It kind of saddened me to think that this is probably not true today, because when I was growing up, I read everything Alcott wrote, some of them several times.

With Marmee and Louisa, I learned about the life of a woman for whom I have always had a great deal of admiration. In some ways, it was like reading a Who's Who of antebellum New England as the Alcotts were friends with the Ralph Waldo Emersons, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman.

The book was also sad-- Bronson Alcott was in no way the beloved Papa March of Little Women, but was a visionary who was unable to hold a job or support his family. Nor did he appear to respect his wife, Abigail, who took in borders, was one of the country's first paid social workers, worked as a matron in a spa, and begged for funds from her relatives in order to feed her daughters.

Abigail longed for more-- when she met and married Bronson Alcott, she thought she had found a soulmate who would encourage her as she made her mark in the world as a teacher and speaker, but instead she was left at home to take care of the children while Bronson went out and followed his own dreams, heedless of hers.

As I read this book, my mind kept returning to the young woman who had never heard of Louisa May Alcott, and I wondered about the relevance of Alcott's books today. What could young girls growing up in the here and now gain from reading about the March family of so long ago?

I discovered that yes, there is a context in which it is very relevant today. Little Women's Jo March struggled with the role of women in society, wanting to have a voice in the world and a career, but still wanting to have a soul mate and a family, much as Abigail May Alcott and Louisa May desired. The conflict is the same as that of any mother who tries to achieve a balance between raising her children, having a career and maintaining a marriage, or that of any woman who wants to make her own decisions about her life, her body and her future. Even now, 150 years after Alcott wrote, for all the strides women have made, we still have such a long way to go.

Anyone who grew up reading the books of Louisa May Alcott will enjoy this book, but it is not just for Louisa's fans. Anyone who is interested in the history of feminism in the United States would find this book a worthwhile intro to early feminism, and may find themselves picking up Little Women and reading it with a great deal of appreciation. I know that I will enjoy Little Women and the other Alcott novels all the more for having read this book.
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Mar 20, 2013 Karyl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, library-reads, non-fiction, favorites, biography

An absolutely fascinating look at the extremely close relationship between Louisa May Alcott, one of America's favorite authors, and her loving mother.

As a 21st century woman with every opportunity available to me, it is still hard to conceive of the strictures women lived under throughout much of history. Smart, intelligent, well-read women were still expected to be nothing more than glorified house drudges and breeding mares. Alcott's mother, Abigail May, wanted so much more from life than th...more An absolutely fascinating look at the extremely close relationship between Louisa May Alcott, one of America's favorite authors, and her loving mother.

As a 21st century woman with every opportunity available to me, it is still hard to conceive of the strictures women lived under throughout much of history. Smart, intelligent, well-read women were still expected to be nothing more than glorified house drudges and breeding mares. Alcott's mother, Abigail May, wanted so much more from life than that. She believed in suffragism and abolitionism, and wanted to work for the causes she held dearly. But as a woman in the early 19th century, any public speaking was cut off from her. She finally married Bronson Alcott when she was 30, hoping that in him she had found a helpmeet that wouldn't hold her back due to her gender. She had hoped that the two of them could open a school together to educate the youth of the time.

Strangely, however, Bronson Alcott seemed to have no desire to do the hard work necessary to keep his family clothed and housed. He was rarely, if ever, paid for the work that he did, and he was constantly being fired from his teaching positions either because he refused to attend church or because the parents felt that his methods were inappropriate. It fell upon Abigail, a woman from a wealthy family, to beg and plead with her relatives to send money as they could in order to support herself and her children.

Throughout the book, it becomes evident that Bronson Alcott abandoned his family more often than not to pursue his own interests, and that it was Abigail, his wife, who was responsible for most of Louisa's success as an author. It was Abigail, Louisa's own "Marmee," who encouraged her daughter to write, and indeed, to do whatever was necessary to support the family. On Louisa's shoulders devolved the burden of earning income so that her family could eat and be housed comfortably, even at the young age of 15. Because of this, she churned out sensational story after story, the payment for which finally began to chip away at her father's debts.

With the publication of Little Women, Louisa finally achieved her dearest wish -- to make enough money to settle her Marmee comfortably, to allow her to do nothing more than to sit and read if that's what she chose, instead of working as a social worker or to take in boarders or to ask her relatives for money just to make ends meet.

It is interesting that even though Louisa was an early feminist, which she clearly was encouraged to be by her mother, it is her father who is credited with helping her achieve her success, though he was not even present at home throughout much of Louisa's childhood, and when he was, he was suffering from depression resulting from his sense that he was sorely misunderstood by much of society. I believe it shows how sexist our society was, to give the father all of the credit, even though it was her mother who instilled in her the belief that whatever she set her mind to, she could achieve, despite the expected gender roles of her time.

I have always loved Little Women, having read it many, many times as a child, and this book only serves to heighten my respect not only for Louisa May Alcott, but also for her mother, whom I hadn't really given any thought to beforehand. These amazing, bright ladies opened the door to so many other women. Even within her lifetime, Louisa May Alcott outsold all other male authors of the day, an unheard-of feat, and Little Women has been translated into many other languages for consumption all over the world.

My only regret with this book is that I couldn't have read it when I still lived in New England, so I could follow along with the final chapter in which LaPlante shows her readers where to find places family to Alcott and her family. (less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Jane Turner rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow...this was one of the best books I have read in a long time. I have been a fan of all of LMA's books since I was a young girl reading them. I had always heard the same tripe that we have all been fed...that Bronson Alcott and the men in Louisa's life were the great influence on Louisa and led her to be the woman and writer that she became. Wrong. Let me first say that I am a strong believer in a father's influence in a daughter's life, and I am not a man hater. That being said, though, by th...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Frrobins rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought I knew the Alcotts from reading "Little Women." I thought wrong. The story of the Alcott's is different from that of the Marches. Included in it is the story of the history of the Abolitionist movement and the Women's Suffrage movement. Abigail Alcott, Louisa May Alcott, Samuel Joseph May and others are the Americans you can look back on in history and be proud of.

This was not just the story of social movements, though, it is also the story of a dysfunctional family. I'd always assume...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Jukka added it

Shelves: recent-reads

Marmee and Louisa - Eve LaPlante

A biographical view of the lives of a mother and daughter, Abigail May Alcott and Louisa May Alcott, and the influence on LMA's writing. Additionally there is considerable material on domestic life and social perspectives in the mid-nineteenth century northern U.S. (This of interest now to me in particular, and i would recommend to others with a similar interest. I read this right after America Aflame by David Goldfield, a good combination.) Considerable attention...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Mandolin added it

Shelves: my-inventory

LaPlante, Eve
Biography

When my grandmother gave me the Little Women trilogy boxed set when I was a little girl, she presented me with a gift beyond measure, for within their pages I found a world that captivated me and a heroine that inspired me to write, to dream, to live. Jo March was my girlhood idol and I wanted more than anything to have a family and life like hers. Needless to say, I read the book over and over and searched out the other treasures written by the woman who would soon become...more LaPlante, Eve
Biography

When my grandmother gave me the Little Women trilogy boxed set when I was a little girl, she presented me with a gift beyond measure, for within their pages I found a world that captivated me and a heroine that inspired me to write, to dream, to live. Jo March was my girlhood idol and I wanted more than anything to have a family and life like hers. Needless to say, I read the book over and over and searched out the other treasures written by the woman who would soon become one of my favorite authors, Louisa May Alcott. Researching her life for grade school book reports, I was always confused by authors who attributed her success to her father. If he was such an important part of her life, why were so few of her books populated by strong father figures? Instead, it is the mothers, grandmothers and aunts that figure most prominently in the majority of her stories.

With the new material uncovered by Eve LaPlante, a great-niece of Louisa's mother, Abigail, the untruth of those assumptions is finally laid to rest. Giving the world entry into the life of this remarkable woman and opening our eyes to the enormous influence she had on her daughter, LaPlante provides us with a wonderfully researched and detailed account of her life in all its beauty and sadness. Restricted by a society that refused her the vote and confined by marriage to a man who could not support her, Abigail faced difficulty with a perseverance and strength that is beautiful to see and that is clearly mirrored in the heroines her daughter captured on the page. Moving seamlessly through the history of the May family, Abigail's childhood and marriage and Louisa's life, LaPlante's dual biography is an insightful look into the woman behind the charming books. Focusing on the topics that were most important to both Louisa and her mother, including the themes of abolition, marital inequality and women's suffrage which Louisa returned to again and again in her novels, she shows how influential a role Abigail's own life played in her daughter's. Her portrayal of Bronson is unflattering but enlightening, revealing to the world that, though he undoubtedly loved his wife and daughters, he was fundamentally unable to provide them with the basic necessities of life. His failure as a father and husband owed much to his philosophic nature and grandiose dreams and ideas. Contrasted with other strong male figures in Louisa's life, including her uncle Samuel May, he is revealed to be a weak man who never should have married. His failures certainly harmed his wife and his children, who were uprooted time and again from their homes and forced to beg and labor for their livelihood, but the hardship that they caused the family is likely one of the major forces that drove Louisa to success. Determined to provide the stability and comfort her mother so richly deserved, Louisa worked tirelessly to acquire the means to do so.

Unlike her dreamer husband, Abigail was a practical and resourceful parent who sacrificed much to give her children not only food and clothing but also the education that society would have otherwise denied them as women. She dared her girls to dream and do the things she was never given a chance to try herself and led them on to be the strong, self-sufficient women they eventually became.
Her fortitude, selflessness and support inspired in all of her daughters, but most especially in Louisa, a life-long devotion and immense love. In even the most daunting of circumstances, she remained a pillar of strength and the truest friend her daughter ever knew. Her support and encouragement was a source of motivation to the young woman who seemed so out of place in the world. So overlooked in the past, it is about time that Abigail is honored for the key role she played not only in her friend and daughter's life but in the world around her. The only sad part is the realization that the documents uncovered by the author are only a fragment of Abigail's legacy, the remainder having been destroyed at the hands of her daughter and husband in hopes of protecting her privacy. How much more could we have known about this amazing woman!!

Though some passages tend to read more like a dry textbook recital of names and dates, some of which seem unnecessary to the book's focus on Abigail and Louisa, it remains a powerful read due to its remarkable heroines. As a young woman whose best friend, mentor and source of inspiration is her mother, I found this book to be moving and truly inspirational. I give its author my most heartfelt thanks and give the book my highest recommendation (after Little Women, of course!)

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Feb 04, 2013 Gail rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Friends and family

Recommended to Gail by: Reviews

Shelves: biography, noteworthy-nonfiction

Back in 2009, "Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women" was written by Harriet Reisen. I read it and thought it was good but it doesn't come close to "Marmee & Louisa." In the first book, you barely knew that Abigail, Louisa's mother, even existed. The emphasis was on Bronson, Louisa's father and that he was the one behind her brilliance.
As a child, I read "Little Women" over and over again. I couldn't get enough of it and felt as if I knew the family inside-and-out. "Marmee & L...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Carolyn Jackson rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great read for anyone who loved Little Women or is interested in the abolitionist and women's suffrage movements. It was not Bronson Alcott, Louisa's feckless father, but her mother, Abigail May Alcott, who encouraged her writing. Bronson was on the road a lot, and the family was often on the verge of homelessness and hunger in his absence. Abigail, the Marmee of the title, had proposed to him rather than marry her first cousin. Big mistake. Apparently, being a Boston brahman was only a charme...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Bridget rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

I was lucky enough to get an Advanced Readers' Edition of this book, and I couldn't wait to read it! It was a great read.

The basic premise of the book is that although most people think that Louisa May Alcott's father, Bronson Alcott, was the main influence in her life and writing, that person was in fact her mother, Abigail May Alcott. Abigail was a woman ahead of her time, who dreamed of being able to do what she wanted with her life, at a time when marriage was pretty much the only choice for...more I was lucky enough to get an Advanced Readers' Edition of this book, and I couldn't wait to read it! It was a great read.

The basic premise of the book is that although most people think that Louisa May Alcott's father, Bronson Alcott, was the main influence in her life and writing, that person was in fact her mother, Abigail May Alcott. Abigail was a woman ahead of her time, who dreamed of being able to do what she wanted with her life, at a time when marriage was pretty much the only choice for most women. When she met Bronson Alcott, she thought it would be a marriage of equals, but needless to say, it was not.

Abigail's life and Louisa's ended up mirroring each other in so many ways. Both wished for more out of life, and felt that women should be educated, should vote, should work in the world outside of the home if that is what they wished. They both loved to write, and it was Abigail who encouraged Louisa to write stories, keep a journal, and to keep trying. In a way, Louisa had the chance to do things Abigail could only dream of, and that meant the world to her that her daughter's life was more worldly then hers had been.

The author, who is related to Louisa May Alcott, used diaries and writings about the Mays and Alcotts to write this book. Abigail's family, the Mays, were quite active in local Boston politics, religion, and community service. She was brought up with a sense of duty to others, and when her marriage to Bronson Alcott turned out to be less than satisfactory, she worked hard and long to make a good life for her daughters. Until reading this book, I had no idea what a struggle daily life was for the family, as Bronson Alcott made very little money in his lifetime, seeing himself as a man of philosophy and thought, who would be degraded by having a regular job. So it was up to Abigail and the girls from very young ages, to do what they could to keep the family going.

It's pointed out that most of Abigail's diaries were burned by Louisa and her father, at her request, as she did not want just anyone reading them; many of Louisa's diaries had the same end. Abigail's diaries that did survive often were edited by Louisa or Bronson, to keep the world from knowing everything about the family. Though she was an acclaimed writer, Louisa May Alcott did not court celebrity, and did not want others snooping on her life; unlike her father, who wanted everyone to know about him and his philosophy.

I found this book fascinating, as I never knew very much about Louisa May Alcott's mother at all, and did not know a lot about her father besides what most people know about him and his contemporaries, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

Besides letting you know more about the family that she drew upon for so much of her writing, this book gives you a detailed insight to the daily life of the family during times in the country's history where momentous events occurred. If you like Louisa May Alcott, or reading about America in the 1800s including the Civil War, I think you will like this book. I sure did!(less)

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Apr 20, 2013 Michelle Prendergast Sweeney rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography-biography, 2013

This is wonderful! I first read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women when I was 9, and it's the book that sparked my love of reading; in fact, I remember going back and re-reading my favorite passages over and over again long after I had finished the book. When I heard about this on NPR Books, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I enjoy biographies b/c they always provide great historical insight, and this bio of Louisa May Alcott does so in surprising ways. I learned a lot about the development...more This is wonderful! I first read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women when I was 9, and it's the book that sparked my love of reading; in fact, I remember going back and re-reading my favorite passages over and over again long after I had finished the book. When I heard about this on NPR Books, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I enjoy biographies b/c they always provide great historical insight, and this bio of Louisa May Alcott does so in surprising ways. I learned a lot about the development and urbanization of Boston (my all-time favorite city) as well as how the abolition and women's suffrage movements progressed. Also, the transcendentalists' contributions to education reform was addressed. The May-Alcott family was involved in all of these social reforms; while they were certainly ahead of their time, it's sad to consider that Louisa and her mother were not able to enjoy the kind of free, equal society they envisioned and laid the groundwork for with their lives' work. The author is a descendant of the May side of the family, which I think contributed to the inspiration for underscoring Abigail May's impact on her daughter in contrast to the popular (patriarchal?) notion that Bronson Alcott is responsible for his daughter's eschewing of social norms through her career. In fact, Bronson's reputation is really sort of assailed in the book while Abigail is the subject of something akin to hagiography. The writer relied heavily on primary sources (letters, journals, etc though they were heavily redacted by Louisa and Bronson after Abigail's death), so I assume that this is the closest to the truth we can get. I tend to agree with the author about Abigail's primacy given the quasi-autobiographical nature of Little Women in which the father is largely absent and the mother/Marmee is responsible for the girls' upbringing. Finally, I appreciated the author's decision to include some suggestions for tourism of major landmarks associated with the family. While I've visited the Orchard House and the Emerson House in Concord, MA, there were other locations in and around Boston that she discussed that I would like to visit when I am there again. Overall, highly recommend it!(less)

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Nov 09, 2012 Dawn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-won

Perhaps it was with idealistic eyes that I read the blurb of this Good Reads Giveaway entry. Perhaps I became carried away envisioning the mingled scenes created between the reading of "Little Women" as a young person and then viewing the film as I raised children of my own. It is rare that I need to admit that a book has bested my interest, but that one has. Ms. LaPlante has done an exceptional work that showcases her research in a welcoming style, however the welcome did not encourage me enoug...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Brenda J rated it 5 of 5 stars

I found this to be a great read if you loved Little Women or any of Loiuisa Mae Alcott's book;or are interested in the reformist movement, abolitionism and women's suffrage movements. Eva LaPlante has written a comprehensive biography of a mother and daughter, and the world they lived in; the history they experienced, lived through and the influence of their historical family in the founding and establishing of our country.

I liked the fact that Eva LaPlante pulled in the historical significant...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have developed a fascination with all things Louisa May Alcott late in life unlike all the little girls who discovered her when they read Little Women. Although, this book of nonfiction can be rather dry at times, especially in the beginning, which doesn't bode well for the book, I encourage readers to stick with it. As in life, when Bronson Alcott (Louisa May Alcott's father) enters the book, all becomes riveting with the chaos only he can create.
The book is authored by the great, great grand...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Jan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Little Women was released almost 150 years ago. It still stands up today as a family saga. Louisa May Alcott was very successful which was unusual for that time. Her father, Bronson Alcott was though by many biographers to be the source of her success. He was a vain man who spent little time at home, instead, traveling speaking out against slavery.
The book uses diaries, letters and family papers to put together the story of Louisa and her mother Abigail. The story shows it was the strong Abigail...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this as I was reading Little Women, a book I loved as a child. While I knew a little about the Alcotts and have visited Concord, MA, there was so much more information about Louisa here: her relationship with her mother and sisters, her father, and the sources of her writing. I see Little Women with new eyes and have great respect for Louisa's selfless devotion to her family. There are wonderful tidbits of information for lovers of Little Women: Louisa sometimes took care of R.W. Emerson'...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Susan added it

I'm glad I read it, but what a bummer. According to the author, who is a relative of the Mays, Bronson Alcott was a selfish, immature, narcissistic person, and his wife was an intelligent, before her time thinker, and a saint. The book tells how, in some ways similar to the LIW/RWL relationship, the real Marmee's misfortunes fueled her daughter's writerly ambitions and the themes of her daughter's books. If the real Mr. March was like the real Mr. Alcott, be glad he way away at the war during 'L...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Marmee and Louisa (or Marmee and Me, as I think of it) covers a lot of ground. Author LaPlante is a descendent of Alcott, and credit is due her for her "warts and all" coverage of the family--especially ne'er-do-well dad, Bronson. The family's story moves drearily from one death to the next, from one house to the next, from one failed job to--finally--Bronson's pathetic surrender to poverty. Louisa's eventual success as an author is the only light in this tragic story, and even that cannot rescu...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Joni rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

A dual biography by a distant cousin of the Alcott family. In this book, the author explores much of the hidden genius and material that Louisa May Alcott incorporated into her famous novels. The real "Marmee" is Louisa's mother Abigail May Alcott. She was intelligent, fiercely independent and was locked into marriage with a man who never supported his large family. Utilizing letters, journals and Louisa's stories the author makes a case that history has not dealt kindly with Abigail Alcott and...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Kristina A rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Even a feminist study of nineteenth-century women writers suggested that Abigail exerted no intellectual influence on Louisa, who 'was taught by her father and also introduced to men of great influence, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.' No anthology or biography portrayed Louisa as 'taught by her mother and also introduced to women of great influence, including Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Lydia Maria Child, and Margaret Fuller.' Yet that statement, I di...more "Even a feminist study of nineteenth-century women writers suggested that Abigail exerted no intellectual influence on Louisa, who 'was taught by her father and also introduced to men of great influence, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.' No anthology or biography portrayed Louisa as 'taught by her mother and also introduced to women of great influence, including Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Lydia Maria Child, and Margaret Fuller.' Yet that statement, I discovered, is equally true." -- Eve LaPlante, Marmee and Louisa

As others have noted and the quotation above makes entirely clear, the argument of this book is that Abigail May Alcott was an intellectual influence as well as emotional support for Louisa May Alcott. In a way, the claim would seem to be so obvious that it's incredible it's never been made before, given the incredible influence the character of Marmee has in Little Women, and the almost complete absence of Mr. March in that book. Yet at the same time, one could argue that Marmee teaches the girls to be good and self-sacrificing, not necessarily intellectual (though she does encourage Jo's writing--an important clue that apparently is drawn from Louisa's own experience). In any case, LaPlante points out, quite rightly, that women's lives are often lost to history.

It turns out that, from evidence LaPlante uncovers from letters and journals, that Louisa was considered by many, including her father, to be very much like her mother, and that, after Louisa's incredible success with Little Women, even Bronson wrote that Abigail did not get enough credit for her influence over Louisa. Most of the book is a biography of Abigail, which turns out to be quite enjoyable, given Abigail's involvement in both the abolition and women's suffrage movements, as well as her incredible resourcefulness in raising four children on very little income. It's an engaging portrait of life in nineteenth-century America. And the relationship between Louisa and Abigail is beautifully drawn; late in the book, the description of Abigail's death in particular (and I'm not one for deathbed scenes) is deeply moving and haunting.

The writing is readable and fast-paced, though hampered by some frustrating traits, such as the author's over-reliance of direct quotes (sometimes it almost reads like a zagat review!) and a bizarre tendency to end paragraphs with a sentence on an entirely new topic. I also would have enjoyed reading more about Abigail's relationships with Margaret Fuller and Lydia Maria Child; it seems to have been seen as enough that she had them, but I would have liked more details (though perhaps details are few in existing documents). Still, this is an enjoyable read and has renewed my interest in reading more by Alcott and other nineteenth-century American writers.
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title link	preview: Marmee and Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother
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Marmee and Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother

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