Little Women by Louisa May Alcott comes into the ‘books everyone should read’ category. Although in the UK it is often dismissed as a children’s book in the US it is considered (as it should be) a serious work of literature.

Little Women is a coming-of-age novel about four sisters – the ‘little women’ of the title – Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy, whose father is away at war and whose mother is struggling to keep the family going. The girls are all very different and they cope with their circumstances in very different ways. In the course of this (not very long) story they grow up, go out into the world, fall in love and develop into the women they will be. It really is a book that will make you laugh and make you cry.

The blurb says…

Meg is the eldest and on the brink of love. Then there’s tomboy Jo who longs to be a writer. Sweet-natured Beth always puts others first, and finally there’s Amy, the youngest and most precocious. Together they are the March sisters. Even though money is short, times are tough and their father is away at war, their infectious sense of fun sweeps everyone up in their adventures – including Laurie, the boy next door. And through sisterly squabbles, their happy times and sad ones too, the sisters discover that growing up is sometimes very hard to do.