Little Women

“Elegant…the pictures are so gorgeous and the copious notes so interesting… Even for Alcott diehards who know the backstory, there is plenty to savor.”—Samantha Ellis, The Times Literary Supplement

“This annotated edition of Little Women is practically perfect. The book is beautiful, the scholarship impressive and consistently interesting, and the novel itself one of the most amazing products of American literary history. Although I loved Alcott’s novel before I picked up this new edition, which might bias my evaluation, Shealy’s Little Women: An Annotated Edition is an easy book to love, read, and get lost in.”—Gregory Eiselein, Children’s Literature

“[Shealy has] set out to contextualize and illustrate the social, political, historical and literary realities that underpin this wonderful and radical novel… What makes the book so glorious [is] the illustrations. From the earliest frontispieces to the green playbill for the Concord Players, the balance of text to image is well judged… For those of us who have an abiding affection [for Little Women], it’s an utter treat.”—Kate Mosse, The Times

“A Little Women fanatic’s dream… Shealy’s annotations offer much help with allusions to now-forgotten books and arcane language… Many readers will find Shealy’s biographical details helpful in understanding this most favorite of books… [A] lovingly assembled edition.”—Diane Leach, PopMatters

“[A] handsomely produced and exhaustively annotated edition… Richly presented, this Harvard Belknap edition offers a multifaceted picture of American life… It also makes a fine gift book for fans of Louisa May Alcott’s classic.”—J.J. Benardete, Choice

“[This edition] is not geared simply to scholars but is equally inviting to the general reader, breathing new life and relevance into an enduring American classic.”—Audrey Snowden, Library Journal

“An exciting boon to the countless readers and scholars of Alcott’s beloved novel, Daniel Shealy’s excellent Little Women: An Annotated Edition provides the biographical, cultural and even linguistic context of that novel’s making while it refreshes and enriches our experience of its enduring power.”—Brenda Wineapple, author of White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson