Little Women

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Little Women

Little Women Louisa May Alcott An Adaptation by Melanie Acre

Castles in the Sky

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Little Women CASTLES IN THE SKY First published in the United Kingdom by Castles in the Sky, an imprint of Golden Gables Publishing UK 2009 This edition published in 2009 by Castles in the Sky Copyright © 2009 by Melanie Acre Illustrations Copyright © 2009 by Helen Cartwright The moral right of the author has been asserted. All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 936-3-927467-28-7 Typeset in Garamond by C. Gill Book Production Limited, Stirling, Stirlingshire Printed and bound in Great Britain by Stirling Ltd, Stirling plc Papers used by Castles in the Sky are natural, renewable and recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests and certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Little Women

Contents Part One: Meet the Marches Part Two: Three Years Later 1. A Merry Christmas 2. Friends and Family 3. Over the Garden Wall 4. Forgiving Amy March 5. A Young Woman in Town 6. The Pickwick Club Experiments 7. Camp Laurence 8. Castles in the Air 9. Secrets 10. A Telegram and Four Letters 11. Dark Days 12. Amy’s Will 13. Playing with Mr. Brooke 14. Daddy and Wedding Bells

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15. Gossip 16. The First Wedding 17. Pressing On: Girlish Attempts 18. Calls and Invitations 19. Amy’s Travels 20. Older and Far Away 21. A New Friend 22. Laurie’s Adventure 23. Beth’s Secret 24. Mending Marriages and Lauries 25. Beth: Learning to Forget 26. My Lord and Lady 27. Daisy and Demi 28. Jo’s Happy Ending

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Castles in the Sky An imprint of Golden Gables Publishing Hornbill Street Perth PH1 5PY www.castlesinthesky.co.uk

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Little Women

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Little Women

Little Women

Chapter One

A Merry Christmas

It was Christmas time, a very long time ago, and four little women were sat in their cosy living room, but instead of looking happy and excited for Christmas, three of the sisters looked quite unhappy. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” Jo, the scruffy looking tomboy on the rug, complained. Quickly, the other two glum sisters, Meg, the tall, stately looking lady, and Amy, the little, pretty one, agreed with her. There was a fourth sister, though, and she turned to her siblings with a content smile on her face, her simple brown hair framing her face. “It is sad to be poor,” Beth commented. “But we have Daddy and Mama and each other.” The four girls looked into the roaring fire cheerfully, but it wasn’t long before they all frowned again, remembering that Daddy was away at war. At first having Daddy in the army was very exciting and the girls loved his letters of what he had been doing, but now it was nearly Christmas 3 project.indd 8-9

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Little Women

Little Women

Even though the four little women knew that they had worked very hard on their Christmas play that year, even they were shocked to see the feast that Mama had laid out for them on the big dining table. It was just like Mama to put on a treat for them, but not two large bowls of ice cream (pink and white!), cake, fruit and sweeties with big, beautiful bunches of colourful flowers. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy all stared at the table with round mouths and eyes.

next time you see him. I still can’t quite get over just how much he has given us, but I suppose you have deserved it, all the effort you girls have put in for those who needed it this Christmas. I know your Daddy will be proud.”

“Is it fairies?” asked little Amy. “Santa Claus,” said Beth, matter-of-factly. “Mama did it,” Meg added, smiling sweetly despite her grey beard and bushy eyebrows. “No, no, how about Aunt March in a good mood?” asked Jo, her face lighting up. Mama laughed lightly. “No girls,” she told them. “Old Mr. Laurence, Laurie’s father sent it all over.” The girls stood shocked, the old man was known to be cranky and they didn’t speak to him often, even though they were neighbours. Mama held up her hand to explain as the four children sat down at the table to enjoy their yummy feast.

Jo bounced up and down excitedly in her chair. “Oh, it was Laurie, I know it was! He’s such a nice boy. I wish we were friends, but Meg never lets me stay to say ‘hello’ when we pass his house. Mmm…. This is so good!” Her words were drowned out by other ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of satisfaction as the ice cream began to melt on their lips and the cake crumbled on to their costumes. Meg looked up though, addressing the family now. “Old Mr. Laurence is known for being terribly mean, but I know lots of people that have had pleasant conversations with him. He’s supposed to keep his boy tucked away, though; it would be nice if we could have him over for the next play we put on. It can be how we say ‘thank you’. They really are lovely flowers, aren’t they?” There were more nods of agreement from the little girls and their mother, though Mama touched the half dead flower that was attached to her waist. “I do prefer Beth’s roses though.” Beth smiled, her cheeks tinting pink in pleasure, though she became more serious after a moment. “I do wish that we could send some of these things to Daddy… I’m afraid he isn’t having as merry a Christmas as we’re having.”

“Well, someone told Mr. Laurence all about your kindness this morning and so he decided that such good deeds should be rewarded, and here it is! I just opened the dining room up to him and he brought all these treats for you to feast on tonight. You must remember to say your ‘thank yous’ to him, girls, the 6 project.indd 10-11

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Little Women

Little Women

Chapter Thirteen “About Meg?”

Playing with Mr. Brooke

“Yes… it is. It’s probably only a little thing, but it bothers me.” “Beth’s asleep, so speak quietly, but tell me about it. It’s not that Moffat boy, is it?” Jo made a face, wrinkling her nose. “No! I would have shut the door in his face if it was. It’s just that, well… last summer Meg left one of her glove’s at the Laurence house, but only one was ever returned. We forgot about it until Laurie told me that Mr. Brooke said that he liked Meg, but didn’t think he should say so because she’s so young and he’s so poor. Isn’t that bad?” Mama frowned a little. “Do you think Meg likes him too?”

The March house that day was a very happy place, because for the first time in such a long while, all the little women, Mama and other people besides were together again. Finally, poor Beth had woken up from her illness and sat comfortably in her cosy bed with all her sisters and Mama by her side. She smiled lightly, not being able to wish for a happier scene to wake up to. She couldn’t stay awake for very long, though, she was still tired and so her sisters fetched and carried things for Mama, who wouldn’t leave Beth’s side of a moment. That evening, while Meg wrote to the missing member of their family, Daddy, Jo slipped upstairs to Beth’s room unnoticed. Mama still rested there with her sick little girl and Jo stood before her, twisting her fingers in her hair nervously. “What is it, my dear?” asked Mama, taking one hand from Beth’s and holding it out to her unruly daughter. “I want to tell you something, Mama. Can I?” asked Jo, eventually, still looking unsure. 60 project.indd 12-13

“I don’t know, Mama! I don’t know about love. Boys are fun to play games with, not kissing and things,” Jo laughed as she spoke, trying to keep her voice low for Beth’s sake. She looked thoughtful a moment after that though. “I suppose in books girls in love usually giggle and blush and faint all the time. Meg doesn’t do those silly things; she eats, drinks and sleeps like normal, but when Laurie teases her about being in love she does blush a little. I keep telling him to stop doing it, but he doesn’t pay attention to me like he should.” “So you don’t think Meg likes John?” “Who?” Jo stared at Mama with wide eyes, only ever having known the man as ‘Mr. Brooke’. “Mr. Brooke,” replied Mama, chuckling lightly at the astonished look on her daughter’s face. “I call him ‘John’ now, after all the time we spent at the hospital.” “Oh no, that means you’d like it to happen then. I say that he’s a bad man to be so good to Daddy and to help you so much, just so that you like him enough to let him marry Meg.” 61 4/14/2009 8:24:35 AM

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Little Women

“Now it’s Grandma’s sixtieth birthday! Three cheers to her. Happy birthday!” Everyone was so happy on Grandma March’s birthday that they called their wishes out to her at the top of their voices. After that, with a lot of laughter, everyone was wished good health, from old Mr. Laurence to the boys’ guinea pig, who had come to see what was going on. Demi, the eldest grandchild, then came forward with an entire wheelbarrow filled with presents for the birthday girl. As Grandma opened them, she cried in delight over what she received from the children, for each of them made their gifts themselves. Strangely, during the giving of gifts, most of the boys had disappeared, so when Grandma broke down into grateful tears as she thanked them, it was up to little Teddy to wipe her tears on his shirt. Then, when everyone was happy once more, the Professor burst into song, which everyone joined in with, laughing as they did. Then the boys reappeared! They were sat in the trees above the group’s head like featherless birds, joining in with the singing as a beautiful little choir. The song was a huge success and Grandma loved it so much that she demanded it to be sung again. “I don’t think I’m ever going to call myself ‘unlucky Jo’ again,” said that young woman, happily, as she took Teddy’s little fist out of the milk jug again. “But your life is so different from how you imagined. Do you remember our castles in the air?” laughed Amy as she watched her Laurie and John playing cricket with Jo’s boys. “I love to see them play like that!” Jo exclaimed, grinning as she followed Amy’s gaze. “I do remember what we said back when we were only little women, but that seems so unimportant now, compared to my boys. Maybe someday I will be able to write a good book, but I can wait and look what we have instead. Mama and Daddy look so happy, and all our children and husbands… I couldn’t wish for anything more.”

Little Women

“Well, I would still like to make some great art,” said Amy, cuddling her tiny baby girl in her arms. “Just now I’m making a baby out of marble and Laurie says it’s the nicest thing I’ve ever done, which makes me happy, because it’s modelled on little Beth here.” All three girls looked towards the little baby in Amy’s arms, their eyes loving. The little thing was very small and she united the whole family, Mama, Daddy, Meg, Jo, Amy and the boys together in love for her. They all feared losing her before she grew up, but it was good for them to be reminded that into every life some rain must fall, otherwise the sun wouldn’t be so brilliant. Little Beth was the smallest child of the family, but she also brought the most joy when she smiled, or laughed. This is what allowed Amy to say that she was really happy with her life now. “That sounds lovely, Amy,” Jo said, her voice soft. “And no one can accuse me of being unhappy. I’m almost thirty and fit as a fiddle, as is Fritz and the children are lovely and chubby. Okay, so we’ll never be rich, and Plumfield may burn down at any second, but I can’t complain.” At that moment Mama came over, holding another young boy, eager to join her daughters in their conversation. She smiled at her three little women, completely at peace. She was also very happy, with countless young grandchildren running around the gardens and daughters that she could truly be proud of. She set the boy she held on the ground and approached her daughters, putting a gentle arm around each one in turn. “I couldn’t be happier than I am now,” she told them, her elderly eyes twinkling with joy. “And it is all because of you three, my Little Women.”

“I think I got to my castle in the end,” Meg added, placing a hand through her son’s hair. “I have such pretty things, a husband that I love and the most beautiful children.” 142 project.indd 16-17

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Little Women

Did you enjoy this adaptation of the classic Little Women? Why not take a look at our other luxury adaptations of classic tales? Whether it’s the high flying adventure of Peter Pan, or the surreal tale of Wonderland in Through the Looking Glass, we’ll have something for you all, bound in the most luxurious of materials. Not only that, but if you want to catch up with Meg, Jo, Amy and the rest of the gang, keep an eye out for the releases of Louisa May Alcott’s Good Wives, Little Men and Jo’s Boys. Keep up to date at www.castlesinthesky.co.uk/littlewomen where you will also be able to join the girls and create your own profile to meet other Little Women all over the world.

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Cover Illustrations © H. Cartwright Designed by G. Monroe Golden Gables Publishing House Children’s Fiction

£11.99

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