A restless tomboy with a wild imagination, Jo March bridles against societal conventions. She has no interest in becoming a lady; she will become a writer. Fortunately for Jo, her family supports her ambitions and understands her eccentricities. With their father serving as a chaplain in the Union Army and little money coming in, Jo and her three sisters work hard to help their mother keep the household afloat. Immensely popular from the day it was published, Little Women struck a chord with generations of young American women, demonstrating that women can pursue their dreams freely without compromising their values.

This beautiful, giftable collection celebrates both the wisdom and tenacity of courageous women who defied society’s expectations and gifted the world with literary treasures through unparalleled fiction and poetry. We know many of their names--Austen and Alcott, Brontë and Browning, Wheatley, and Woolf--though some may be less familiar. They are here, waiting to introduce themselves.  They wrote against all odds. Some wrote defiantly; some wrote desperately. Some wrote while trapped within the confines of status and wealth. Some wrote hand-to-mouth in abject poverty. Some wrote trapped in a room of their father’s house, and some went in search of a room of their own. They had lovers and families. They were sometimes lonely. Many wrote anonymously or under a pseudonym for a world not yet ready for their genius and talent. The Women Who Wrote softcover edition offers: Stories from Jane Austen, Katherine Mansfield, Willa Cather, Louisa May Alcott, Edith Wharton, Zora Neale Hurston, and Virginia Woolf. Poems from Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Dorothy Parker, and Phillis Wheatley. These women wrote to change the world. They marched through the world one by one or in small sisterhoods, speaking to one another and to us over distances of place and time. Pushing back against the boundaries meant to keep us in our place, they carved enough space for themselves to write. They made space for us to follow. Here they are gathered together, an army of women who wrote an arsenal of words to inspire us. They walk with us as we forge our own paths forward.

Ladylike Meg, artistic tomboy Jo, frail Beth, and charming Amy—each March sister has her own dreams, struggles, and fears. The March sisters learn that learning how to be a “little woman� is never simple, but it’s much sweeter to do when they have their sisters by their sides.  This rich and realistic portrait of growing up is now available in its entirety in this paperback edition, perfect for young readers’ libraries. 

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

'Wouldn't it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true and we could live in them?'

A heart-warming tale of love, sisterhood and hardship during the New England Civil War, Little Women tells the story of the lovable March family. Meg, Beth, Jo and Amy try to support their mother at home while their father is away at war and enter into various scrapes and adventures as they do so. Alcott beautifully interweaves bad times and good as her characters struggle with the trials and tribulations of growing up and their relationships with one another.

Little Women is one of the best-loved children's stories of all time, based on the author's own youthful experiences. It describes the family of the four March sisters living in a small New England community. Meg, the eldest, is pretty and wishes to be a lady; Jo, at fifteen is ungainly and unconventional with an ambition to be an author; Beth is a delicate child of thirteen with a taste for music and Amy is a blonde beauty of twelve. The story of their domestic adventures, their attempts to increase the family income, their friendship with the neighbouring Laurence family, and their later love affairs remains as fresh and beguiling as ever.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

A talented, ambitious, restless tomboy with a wild imagination, Jo bridles against ladylike conventions. She has no interest in becoming a lady; she will become a writer. Fortunately for Jo, her family supports her ambitions and understands her eccentricities. With their father serving as a chaplain in the Union Army and little money coming in, Jo and her three sisters work hard to help their mother keep the household afloat. Rarely has a novel had as large an impact on society as Little Women, while generating virtually no controversy. Immensely popular from the day it was published, it struck a chord with generations of young American women, supporting traditional Protestant values while demonstrating that women could pursue their dreams freely without compromising their virtue.