I can’t remember a time when I did not read and write, and I was quite young when I came across Jo March in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Good Wives – another girl who read and wrote and who seemed a little subversive because of it. It was like finding a kindred spirit, a secret protection from those who saw reading and writing as a waste of time unless it was solely for the purpose of school work.
Mari Strachan
Reviews
Little Women, Good Wives, Jo's Boys and Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott, were my comfort and inspiration. I read and re-read them, especially when I was ill in bed with yet another bout of tonsillitis. Like most girls, I longed to be Jo - though it wasn't until I was an adult that I could see why she preferred Professor Bhaer to Laurie. It gives me intense pleasure that one of my daughters calls me Marmee, and I still love the genuine goodness of the March family, which was based on the author's own.
