Little Women is, to this day, one of the most beloved novels in the English language. But few of its fans realize that it was originally published complete with its sequel, 1869's Good Wives, in one volume. This wonderful book picks up the story of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy three years later, as they've passed through childhood and begin to face the complications of adult life. The further adventures of the March women-as well as their friend Laurie-will delight and enthrall readers who've only known their tale as ending with Little Women.

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), one of the most well-known American novelists of the 19th century, was born on November 29, 1832 to transcendentalist educator Amos Bronson Alcott and his wife, Abigail May Alcott. She was the second of four sisters (like Jo, her literary corollary), and grew up in a family that encouraged and sympathized with her abolitionist and feminist leanings.

As a child she received instruction from noted literary figures such as Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, all family friends. In addition to the Little Women series, which included four novels, she wrote 28 other works, three under the pen name A.M Barnard. Though Alcott had chronic health problems in her later years, most likely attributed to an autoimmune disease, she continued to write until her death at 55 in 1888.