During our wonderful trip to the States last year, we were able to visit the town of Concord. Not only is this town important because it is where the first shots of the American Revolutionary War were fired, it also boast a great deal of literary heritage with Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson all having lived in the town. It is also where my Auntie and Uncle live so we were able to spend a whole day exploring Old North Bridge and the Minute Man National Historic Park as well as taking a tour of Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott. I love the Little Women series so was intrigued and impressed by the writer. I was deficiently inspired to read more of her work so I chose Moods first.
Moods is about first love and duty and I was utterly captivated by it. Beautifully written, understandably moralistic (although not in the least preachy), we are taken through the female protagonist Sylvia’s maturing from a tom boy, spoilt child to a sensitive and good-hearted young woman. She falls in love but the course of her love does not run smooth. I found it quite moving. Alcott has such a lovely way with words that makes her writing seem both antiquated and fresh at the same time. It is basically really lovely chick lit. Here is an example of her description when Sylvia is appreciating the man with whom she will fall in love:
She found [his face] full of a noble gravity and kindliness; candour and courage spoke in the lines of the mouth, benevolence and intellect in the broad arch of the forehead, ardour and energy in the fire of the eye, and on every lineament the stamp of that genuine manhood, which no art can counterfeit.
I will look forward to reading more Alcott; I have Hospital Sketches on my iPad which is the collection of letters Alcott wrote while volunteering during the Civil War and I would love to revisit the Little Women series.
Notes From My Day 