The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott. Kelly O'Connor McNees. 2010. Penguin. 336 pages.
It didn't take long for the Alcott sisters to finish unpacking their clothes.
In 1855, Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass was published. But was this also the year that Louisa May Alcott found true love?! In The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, Kelly O'Connor McNees crafts a love story for one of America's finest writers of the nineteenth century.
When the novel opens, Louisa is unpacking and settling into the Alcott's new home. Her family has recently moved to Walpole, New Hampshire. Like her older sister, Anna, Louisa has become tired of her life. Tired of living at home with her parents. Tired of her father's ideals creating economic impossibilities. Anna feels it is time--past time really--to find a young man, marry, and settle down in her own home. And she is crossing her fingers that Walpole will be the place she finds him. Louisa, on the other hand, has other plans. Plans that include her being independent, leaving her family, moving to Boston, and writing, writing, writing. And getting published of course! She has big dreams, big plans. And these dreams don't include having a husband.
Will these two sisters find love in unexpected ways? How will reading Walt Whitman impact Louisa's life? Can Louisa find happiness on her own terms?
© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
6 comments:
Great synopsis. Was it a good read?
I am very interested in reading this book.
I thought it was a great read! As a famous author she's kind of inaccessible. It's nice to see her as a person, even if it is an imagined story.
I'll have to look for this one. I was so happy the other day when a student checked out Eight Cousins without me even suggesting it!
I thought it was interesting that Walt Whitman's poems came out around the time Louisa was looking to branch out on her own. I think the author did a great job of showing how Whitman and other writers probably influenced Louisa. Oh, to have gotten to chat with Thoreau and Emerson!
I hadn't heard of this book, until reading your post, but will have to read it. I love Louisa May Alcot.
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