March Sisters

Four lifelong fans of Little Women come together here to offer a deep, funny, far-ranging meditation on the power of great literature to shape and enrich our lives. Each takes as her subject one of the four March sisters: Kate Bolick finds parallels between Meg’s brush with glamour at the Moffats’ ball and her own complicated relationship with clothes. Jenny Zhang confesses to liking Jo least among the sisters when she first read the novel as a girl, not wanting to see so much of herself in a character she feared was too unfeminine. Carmen Maria Machado writes about the real-life tragedy of Lizzie Alcott, the inspiration for Beth, and the horror story that comes from not being the author of your own life narrative. And Jane Smiley rehabilitates the reputation of youngest sister Amy, whom she sees as a modern feminist role model for those of us who aren’t as fierce and fiery as Jo.