My Heart Is Boundless: Writings of Abigail May Alcott, Louisa's Mother (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781476702803)

Edited by award-winning biographer Eve LaPlante, a collection of the letters and diaries of Louisa May Alcott's mother, Abigail--a forward-thinking feminist whose advice and example profoundly shaped her famous daughter

Little Women's "Marmee" is one of the most recognizable mothers in American literature. But the real woman behind the fiction--Louisa May Alcott's own mother, Abigail--has for more than a century remained shrouded in mystery. Scholars believed that her papers were burned by her daughter and husband, as they claimed, and that little additional information survived.

Until now. When Abigail's biographer and great-niece Eve LaPlante found a collection of letters and diaries in an attic trunk and began exploring the Alcott family archives, a window opened onto the life of this woman who has for too long been hiding in plain sight. These discoveries, and others, inform LaPlante's groundbreaking new dual biography, Marmee & Louisa, a companion volume to My Heart Is Boundless. No self-effacing housewife, Abigail was a passionate writer and thinker, a feminist far ahead of her time. She taught her daughters the importance of supporting themselves and dreamed of a day when a woman, like a man, could enjoy both a family and a career.

Here at last, in her own words, is this extraordinary woman's story, brought to the public for the first time. Full of wit, charm, and astonishing wisdom, Abigail's private writings offer a moving, intimate portrait of a mother, a wife, a sister, and a fierce intellect that demands to be heard.

Author: Eve Laplante
ISBN-10: 1476702802
ISBN-13: 9781476702803
Publisher: Free Press
Language: English
Published: 11/06/2012
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 7.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 10/01/2012 pg. 87
Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2012
Booklist 11/15/2012 pg. 9
New York Times Book Review 12/23/2012 pg. 18