Book description
To mark the publication of Stop What You're Doing and Read
This!, a collection of essays celebrating reading, Vintage
Classics are releasing 12 limited edition themed ebook 'bundles', to
tempt readers to discover and rediscover great books.
LITTLE WOMEN & GOOD WIVES
Life in the March household is full of adventures and accidents as
the four very different March sisters follow their varying paths to
adulthood, always maintaining the special bond between them. Sensible
Meg, impetuous Jo, shy Beth and artistic Amy each have to confront
different challenges as they grow up together and attempt to learn how
to be both happy and good.
THE CRANFORD CHRONICLES
Follow the small absurdities and major tragedies in the lives of the
people of Cranford, a small Cheshire market town, during one
extraordinary year.
The railway is pushing its way relentlessly towards the town from
Manchester, bringing fears of migrant workers and the breakdown of law
and order. The arrival of handsome young Doctor Harrison causes yet
further agitation not just because of his revolutionary methods but
also because of his effect on the hearts of the ladies. Meanwhile Miss
Matty's memories of long-ago heartache are rekindled.
Louisa May Alcott was born on 29 November 1832 in Pennsylvania.
Her father was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau.
Alcott started selling stories in order to help provide financial
support for her family. Her first book was Flower Fables
(1854). She worked as a nurse during the American Civil War and in
1863 she published Hospital Sketches, which was based on her
experiences. Little Women was published in 1868 and was based
on her life growing up with her three sisters. She followed it with
three sequels, Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871)
and Jo's Boys (1886) and she also wrote other books for both
children and adults. Louisa May Alcott was an abolitionist and a
campaigner for women's rights. She died on 6 March 1888.
Elizabeth Gaskell was born on 29 September 1810 in London.
She was brought up in Knutsford, Cheshire by her aunt after her mother
died when she was two years old. In 1832 she married William Gaskell,
who was a Unitarian minister like her father. After their marriage
they lived in Manchester with their children. Elizabeth Gaskell
published her first novel, Mary Barton, in 1848 to great
success. She went on to publish much of her work in Charles Dickens's
magazines, Household Words and All the Year Round. Along
with short stories and a biography of Charlotte Brontë, she published
five more novels including North and South (1855) and Wives
and Daughters (1866). Wives and Daughters is unfinished
as Elizabeth Gaskell died suddenly of heart failure on 12 November 1865.
