Good Wives – Louisa May Alcott

To follow on from reading Little Women I then moved on to Good Wives - a natural progression as they were originally two volumes of the same book. Good Wives does take things a step further as it covers how the four women have developed into young women. There are marriages and babies as well as tears and sadness.

Despite being published in 1869 what amazed me about Good Wives is just how much of that transition from young woman, to young lady, to wife and then to mother is still the same today. The chapter entitled "Domestic Experiences" follows Meg as she tries to become the perfect wife to John and mother to their twin children. She struggles with the adjustment in much the same way as I have seen many women today adjusting to their new role when they become a mother for the first time. It's fascinating to see that the same is happening over 140 years later!

I've managed to get copies of the next two of Alcott's books (Little Men and Joe's Boys) lined up for reading soon and I'm really looking forward to them. The parallels with modern day are far stronger than I imagined, but it goes to show how despote all the technical advances in the world some fundamental things remain the same.