Little Women Little Women Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the books over several months at the request of her publisher. Following the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy—the novel details their passage from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. Scholars classify "Little Women" as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel. "Little Women" was an immediate commercial and critical success with readers demanding to know more about the characters. Alcott quickly completed
The Rollin Sisters to Charleston's antebellum free black "aristocracy". Very little is known about their mother. William Rollin was a fervent Roman Catholic and was very concerned with his daughters' education. In the spring of 1871, two New York newspapers covering South Carolina politics, the "Sun" and the "New York Herald", published long interviews with the sisters. By that time, the sisters had become known for their salon, which was referred to as "the Republican Headquarters" at the time. The Rollin sisters were closely aligned with both white and black radical Republican leadership in the area. "The Sun" compared the women to Catherine