The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly
Published by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Lulu is the failure of the Atwood family, at least that’s how she feels. Her younger sister, Sophie, seems to actually be on the verge of a successful acting career, and their responsible elder sister Emma is getting married. Lulu is not in a relationship, and has no idea what she wants to do with her life, taking dead-end jobs that drive her parents mad. Somewhat depressed, Lulu is up in the attic on an errand when she discovers a trove of letters from her great-grandmother Jo March to Jo’s sister, Meg. Jo reminds Lulu so much of herself: unsure the path she wants to take in life, unwilling to enter into romantic entanglements with her neighbor. Both women are spunky, but somewhat lost. Watching Jo find herself in the series of letters, Lulu begins to feel better about her prospects, and finds herself too.
A fascinating idea to me, the concept of Little Women never having existed, because the Atwood sisters are continuing to live in the March sisters’ universe. Even so, just as millions of young girls have found strength in Jo March, her great-granddaughter is able to do the same. Donnelly had a bit of a tricky line to walk with The Little Women Letters. On one hand, she could have made them too much carbon copies of the March girls and their experiences, and made the whole book trite and derivative. On the other hand, she could have made them too very different from Jo and her sisters and the Little Women angle would have felt tacked on. Instead, Donnelly found a lovely balance. Leaving out Beth, she imbued the other three March girls into each of the girls in the Atwood family, while still leaving Emma, Lulu, and Sophie to be thoroughly modern English girls.
Perhaps the best part of The Little Women Letters were the titular letters which Lulu discovered in the attic. Donnelly caught Jo’s voice and style very well, creating letters that are not canonical to Little Women, but do mesh with the happenings in the book.
All in all The Little Women Letters is a hugely enjoyable novel for fans of Little Women. Recommended.
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Oh this looks really good. I think I’d need to go back and read Little Women first so I have a more recent frame of reference.
I have a copy of this book and am anxious to read it. I’ve always loved LITTLE WOMEN. I know that some find it too sentimental, but not me. I think yours is the first review I’ve read of THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS and I’m pleased that you had a good experience. Thanks for sharing and I’m off to find my book!
I’m so glad I’m back to blogging in time for your review. I have this on my nightstand and now I have to move it up in my rotation. I read The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott a little while back so I’m looking forward to this one.
I love Little Women, so I’m anxious to give this a try!
So glad to hear that this one is so good. You’re absolutely right about there being a fine line to balance and I wasn’t sure it could be done.
So this is the next wave of adaptations and reinventions? I agree that it is dangerous ground to tread, especially on a beloved childhood classic. I’m glad to hear that she was able to pull it off. I had initially ignored this one, but you definitely have me intrigued now!
I’m so glad you liked this book. I really wanted to read it but sometimes when my expectations are high it can be a flop!
Looking forward to reading this one! Little Women is everywhere these days, but I love it.
I have this one in my TBR stack. I’m glad it’s so good. I really need to get to it.
I also read and reviewed The Little Women Letters. I’m a fan of the classic, so this was an enjoyable book for me too.
Tricky premise, indeed! Sounds like she pulled it off.
Sounds interesting. I will have to give this a read at some point!