The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott Book

Just on the cusp of international fame as a writer, Louisa May Alcott and her family move to the hamlet of Walpole, New Hampshire in the summer of 1855. Bronson Alcott, full-time philosopher and zero-time bread-winner, moves the family into a house generously on loan from family ' just another chapter in the Alcott's life of borrowing in order to sleep and eat. Bronson won't compromise his transcendental ideals to merely put bread in his daughers' mouths.

Louisa, exhausted from years of poverty, distracted parents, and a noisy house full of sisters, plots and plans to move to Boston and earn a living by her pen. Though she has been saving the little she has earned from selling her stories, she feels compelled to help her parents and sisters get settled in Walpole before she sets off for a life of blissful independence ' hampered by no man and by no babies.

And then, in a "lost summer" (lost because much later in life McNees' Alcott burns all evidence of this summer), Alcott meets Joseph Singer, son of the dry goods shop owner. A man who also has read the scandalous new Leaves of Grass. A man whose ideas about marriage are so progressive they almost tempt young Louisa to consider a more traditional life of marital bliss.

Due to my love of Alcott and my incredible appreciation for the fact that McNees is a former English teacher, I really wanted to love this book. I was over the moon when I found it in my mailbox! I'll admit, I did get sucked in to the story, particularly after the first 100 pages, which were particularly slow. Admirably, McNees also steers clear of a simplistic reimaging of Little Women. This is its own book, weaving in bits of Alcott's less-famous writing and excerpts from her letters and journals.

But, parts just didn't ring true for me. Although historically the Alcotts did run in the same circles as Thoreau and Emerson, Emerson's appearance in the book felt like a cheesy cameo. The love story was a little predictable, and the Louisa May Alcott character felt slightly one-dimensional. Fiery, temper-driven, myopic in her drive, this Louisa not only plays against assumptions about the woman behind the story but also reduces her to an archetype.

While it is not complex or probing, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott is a nice, light read ' perfect for the beach or an afternoon on the porch.