Synopsis
Geraldine Brooks takes a very minor character from Louisa May Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN--Mr. March, the girls' preacher father--and makes him the main character in this Civil War novel, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Serving as a chaplain with the Union army, March becomes a teacher on a plantation, where he meets up with Grace, a woman slave he knew years ago. Tormented by the scenes of cruelty and suffering he witnesses--and the casual racism of nearly everyone he encounters--March struggles to keep his ideals intact. Brooks based her vibrant and well-researched portrait of March partly on Bronson Alcott, the New England transcendentalist and father of Louisa May.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2006-01-31 | | Edition Description: | Reprint |
| Size | | Length: | 280 pages | | Height: | 7.8 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 7.0 oz |
Publisher's Note
In a story inspired by the father character in Little Women and drawn from the journals and letters of Louisa May Alcott's father Bronson, a man leaves behind his family to serve in the Civil War and finds his marriage and beliefs profoundly challenged by his experiences. Reader's Guide included. Reprint.
Industry Reviews
"...Brooks's affecting, beautifully written novel drives home the intimate horrors and ironies of the Civil War and the difficulty of living honestly with the knowledge of human suffering."
Publishers Weekly (12/20/2004)
"Brooks combines her penchant for historical fiction with the literary-reinvention genre....The battle scenes are riveting...."
Kirkus (01/01/2005)
"[I]n March, Brooks dares to create a man of his times [and] allows him to be as self-righteous as might be expected of someone with his fervent, high-minded convictions....Nevertheless, the naive earnestness and ready affection with which Brooks endows him, the high standards he sets for himself, and his remarkable willingness to admit mistakes make him wonderfully likeable....Brooks's narrative is remarkably tight. Whereas much literary fiction wallows in digression, here every scrap of information propels the story forward."
Atlantic Monthly - Christina Schwarz (04/01/2005)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
