Louisa May Alcott

Before her wider fame as the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott achieved recognition for her accounts of her work as a volunteer nurse in an army hospital. Written during the winter of 1862-63, her lively dispatches appeared in the newspaper Commonwealth, where they were eagerly read by soldiers' friends and families. Then, as now, these chronicles revealed the desperate realities of battlefield medicine as well as the tentative first steps...

A good fit of illness proves the value of health; real danger tries one's mettle; and self-sacrifice sweetens character. Through a series of letters sent home while serving as a volunteer nurse for the Union Army, Louisa May Alcott created a raw and honest story of battlefield medicine during the American Civil War. Featuring a series of compassionate portraits of the soldiers she encountered, Hospital Sketches both recounted the desperate struggles...

"North Carolina, 1863. As the American Civil War rages on, the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island is blossoming, a haven for the recently emancipated. This is where the March family has finally been able to safely put down roots with four young daughters. Meg is a teacher who longs to find love and start a family of her own. Jo is a writer whose words are too powerful to be contained. Beth, a talented seamstress, is searching for a higher purpose....

Jo, resolved to be a writer, is unaware that the elusive muse she seeks is the life she shares with her sisters and mother.