Synopses & Reviews
May Alcott spends her days sewing blue shirts for Union soldiers, but she dreams of painting a masterpiece--which many say is impossible for a woman--and of finding love, too. When she reads her sister's wildly popular novel, Little Women, she is stung by Louisa's portrayal of her as "Amy," the youngest of four sisters who trades her desire to succeed as an artist for the joys of hearth and home. Determined to prove her talent, May makes plans to move far from Massachusetts and make a life for herself with room for both watercolors and a wedding dress. Can she succeed? And if she does, what price will she have to pay? Based on May Alcott's letters and diaries, as well as memoirs written by her neighbors, Little Woman in Blue puts May at the center of the story she might have told about sisterhood and rivalry in an extraordinary family.
Review
"
Little Woman in Blue is an inspiring and engaging fictional portrait of the artist May Alcott, written with knowledge, sensitivity, and beauty. It is wonderful to see May Alcott gain the center of her own story, and inhabit it with such generosity and grace."
—Harriet Scott Chessman, author of Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper
"At last, a book about the other artistic Alcott sister. May Alcott, dismissed in Little Women as the pampered youngest March sister Amy, explodes onto the pages of this wonderful novel as a real and hugely likeable woman, passionate about life, art, and adventure, and struggling to make sense of her relationship with an older sister who will never appreciate her for who she really is. Thank you, Jeannine, for giving Amy March a voice of her own!"
—Gabrielle Donnelly, author of The Little Women Letters
"I don't know which I admired more: the author's masterful and affectionate resurrection of 19th-century Concord or her imaginative and insightful portrait of the sisterly relationship at the heart of this delightful novel."
—George Howe Colt, author of The Big House, a National Book Award Finalist
Synopsis
A fictionalized account of a real-life rivalry between two sisters who crave wealth, fame, and travel at a time when women are expected to be content with a humble home life: May and Louisa Alcott.
Synopsis
• Targeting talks and presentations at bookstores, conferences, reading groups, historical associations and museums • Author will organize book giveaways • Promotion via Facebook, Twitter, author's website, and author's blog, Views from a Window Seat • Author will offer a downloadable discussion guide for book clubs on her website