Pretty cool! I've come to really enjoy Michaela MacColl's reimaginings of events in different authors' lives. I liked this one better than Always Emily, partly because I like Louisa's down-to-earth character and the interesting depiction of life in semi-rural america in her time period. This one is a nice little who-done-it with the complications of family dynamics in a highly unusual family and an escaped slave to protect on his way north. Once again, I came away wanting to know more about Louisa May Alcott, and once again there's an excellent bibliography making that possible. Very well done.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Chronicle. ( )

This novel set during the teenage years of Louisa May Alcott was interesting to me because it showed her relationships with other writers and thinkers of her era, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. While I had encountered all of these figures previously, I had not realized they all lived in Concord, Massachusetts, at the same time, and it was fascinating to see them interacting with each other. Overall, a good, short read with an engaging mystery. ( )

This has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time, and I’m not sure why it has taken me so long to read it — I won a copy from the Library Thing Early Reviewers program nearly two years ago! I was sure I’d started it earlier and couldn’t get into it, but if I did, my experience was completely different this time. I read half the book in one sitting and finished it off the next time I had time to pick it up!

The story itself is fiction; a murder-mystery involving Louisa May Alcott and the work of the Alcott family for the pre-civil war era underground railroad. However, the author has brought many of the details of the real-life Louisa May Alcott into the story. Some of these details were familiar to me from reading The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck, which also told of the Alcotts and their neighbors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. I really enjoyed the interactions of these famous authors. I also enjoyed watching Louisa deal with the ethical dilemmas that were thrown at her.

One thing I really appreciated about the book is the author's notes at the end. I read the book, planning to do a lot of googling when I finished to sort out fact from fiction. The author used her end notes to do that for me, being very clear on what came from her imagination and where fact and fiction parted. I found after reading her comments, I had no questions left!

This book is classified as young adult and probably geared toward middle school readers. Though I only rated the book 3½ Stars, I think a reader in the upper middle school to high school age group, particularly one who had read and loved Little Women, would rate this one much higher. (Disclosure: I've never read Little Women!)

I won an advanced review copy of this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. ( )

I received this book from Early Reviewers. I enjoyed the book and was interested to learn about the Alcott family's involvement in the Underground Railroad. Louisa's playing sleuth was a good twist. Some of the dialogue felt stilted and some of the characters were not well developed. I'm not sure who this novel is targeted to. It seem far too mature for Little Women readers. ( )

I have mixed feelings about this book. I have read Little Women and enjoyed it immensely so I liked that this was based on the Alcott family and many of the characters are actual people or based on people from Louisa's life. I am not sure that this book will hold the attention of young readers. (Unless, perhaps, they have read Little Women). I am thrilled that the novel covers the underground railroad and the fact the Alcott's actually aided in this. I enjoyed Louisa's character and thought she was well written. I also enjoyed Bronson, her father. Emerson, Thoreau, and Walden's Pond are also a great addition to the story. I was not aware of their part in Louisa's actual life. As for the other characters, there just was not a lot there. When I read the synopsis for this book on Early Reviewers I was excited to get it and thought I would use it in my annual book talk. Now, since reading it I am torn. While the actual history of the Alcott's and their life is interesting, I am not sure the story will hold the readers attention. ( )