Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcotts most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Four sisters are raised in genteel poverty by their loving mother in a quiet Massachusetts town while their father serves as an army chaplain during the American Civil War. Here are independent, tomboyish Jo; delicate, loving Beth; pretty, kind Meg; or precocious and artistic Amy, the baby of the family. The charming story of these four little women and their wise and patient mother Marmee enduring hardships and enjoying adventures in Civil War New England was an instant success when first published in 1868 and has been adored for generations. Following the lives of the March sisters, the novel details their passage from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. The novel has two sequels: Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jos Boys (1871) and Jos Boys and How They Turned Out (1886).