Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott burst onto the scene in Germantown, Philadelphia, in 1832. Thanks to her family’s cash-strapped circumstances, she was forced to hustle from a young age as an occasional teacher, seamstress, governess, maid, and eventually, writer. The second of four sisters – all scribblers themselves – she published the quartet of children’s books Little Women, Little Men, The Inheritance, Jack and Jill. The Mysterious Key and What It Opened (1867) stands as one of her rare ventures into thriller territory.