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Little Women

by Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888)

  • Free to read
  • 12 hours to read
  • 29 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott is a coming-of-age novel published in 1868-1869. The story follows the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—as they navigate their passage from childhood to womanhood in Civil War-era Massachusetts. Loosely based on Alcott's own family, the novel explores themes of domesticity, work, and true love while depicting the sisters' struggles with genteel poverty, their father's absence as a Union Army chaplain, and their journey toward individual identity in nineteenth-century America.

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  • Autobiographical fiction
  • Young women
  • Sisters
  • Domestic fiction
  • Family life · New England
  • New England
  • Bildungsromans
  • Mothers and daughters

Read the opening

Chapter One: Playing Pilgrims

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

“It’s so dreadful to be poor!” sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.

“I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all,” added little Amy, with an injured sniff.

“We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other,” said Beth contentedly from her corner.

The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, “We haven’t got Father, and shall not have him for a long time.” She didn’t say “perhaps never,” but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was.

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Contents

Show all 29 chapters
  1. Part 1
  2. Chapter One: Playing Pilgrims
  3. Chapter Two: A Merry Christmas
  4. Chapter Three: The Laurence Boy
  5. Chapter Four: Burdens
  6. Chapter Five: Being Neighborly
  7. Chapter Six: Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful
  8. Chapter Seven: Amy’s Valley of Humiliation
  9. Chapter Eight: Jo Meets Apollyon
  10. Chapter Nine: Meg Goes to Vanity Fair
  11. Chapter Ten: The P.C. And P.O
  12. Chapter Eleven: Experiments
  13. Chapter Twelve: Camp Laurence
  14. Chapter Thirteen: Castles in the Air
  15. Chapter Fourteen: Secrets
  16. Chapter Fifteen: A Telegram
  17. Chapter Sixteen: Letters
  18. Chapter Seventeen: Little Faithful
  19. Chapter Eighteen: Dark Days
  20. Chapter Nineteen: Amy’s Will
  21. Chapter Twenty: Confidential
  22. Chapter Twenty-One: Laurie Makes Mischief, and Jo Makes Peace
  23. Chapter Twenty-Two: Pleasant Meadows
  24. Chapter Twenty-Three: Aunt March Settles the Question
  25. Part 2: In order that we may start afresh and go to Meg’s wedding
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four: Gossip
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five: The First Wedding
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six: Artistic Attempts
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Literary Lessons
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight: Domestic Experiences
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Calls

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About this edition

This free edition of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #514, released 1996-05-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Novels, Classics of Literature, American Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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