Sarah Miller reimagines “Little Women” through Marmee’s perspective.

Much of the book hews very closely to the original, so people who love being in this world will enjoy seeing it through a slightly different lens, offering an adult’s perspective on the iconic material. Similar to Louisa May Alcott’s use of her mother as a starting point for her characterization of Marmee, Miller also draws from Mrs. Alcott’s biography, including her progressive views and feisty temperament, to craft some new scenes that enrich the rendering.

I love Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I’ve read the book a few times so I was interested in Sarah Miller’s, “Marmee,” which presents the story of Little Women from the perspective of the girls mother.

Sarah Miller masterfully paid homage to Ms. Alcott’s classic story, while also providing details in numerous issues of the times. The story takes place beginning during the Civil War, in 1862, and ends in 1868. Throughout this time, women and family issues are explored, womens health issues, socio-economic issues are explored, the abolitionist movement is discussed, as is the Civil Rights issues of the 1860’s, which eerily mirrored the Civil Rights issues of the 1960’s.

This book also explores love, family, death and grief. And it explores friendships, those between women, between men, and between men and women.

I really enjoyed this book, the second half more than the first, but that also mirrors my experience with Little Woman. I also much prefer the story after the war is over and as the “little women” mature and make their way in the world.

A special Thank You to Cindy Burnett and @thoughtsfromapage podcast. I read this as part of the podcast patron’s Early Reads for October. I look forward to hearing Ms. Miller discuss the book in more detail.

Also thank you to #netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for the advanced e-copy of #marmee .

This book will be available for all on Tuesday, October 25.

This beautiful novel is a retelling of Little Women from Marmee’s perspective. It is so interesting and heart wrenching to read it from her point of view. Set during and after the Civil War, the story unfolds through her journal entries as she writes about her experiences with her daughters, her husband, her community, and Hannah. As a mother of grown daughters and a grandparent, this novel about Marmee really resonates with me. This book is a delight for fans of Little Women! Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow books for the advance copy. Releases October 25.

Sarah Miller re-tells the story of the March family from the eyes and voice of Marmee. While it was wonderful having new life breathed into beloved characters, the undercurrent of political ideals took on a major role. While the sentiments expressed are valid and echo the outrage over the injustices of the time, it distracted from the story.

Marmee by Sarah Miller was a wonderful new perspective of an old classic. I loved the depth and feeling of the story. Sarah did an amazing job keeping true to the characters! A must read!

I give Marmee four and a half stars (rounding up because half stars aren’t an option) for a story that is really good but not quite as perfect as I might want it to be, because of a deep, abiding love for Little Women. Sarah Miller’s story tracks right alongside Louisa May Alcott’s original book, but views events from the perspective of the girls’ mother Marmee. Miller does an excellent job of interpreting this alternate perspective. Some things that receive a tremendous amount of attention in the original story get little more than a passing reference here, because the joy or tragedy of the event from the perspective of a teenager isn’t the same from a parent’s point of view. There are other events that receive the same amount of attention-because they are significant events-but the point of view allows the reader to see it with fresh eyes. Miller also makes the story powerful for both the work Marmee does for people in need and the relationships she has with characters that play more minor roles in the story, all while incorporating more history of the time period than the original that was deeply personal for Alcott. The story wasn’t completely without flaws for me. There are many moments in the book, a series of journal entries, where Marmee speaks of her temper and managing her emotions. It provides context for how her daughters see as a reliable and calm constant in their lives, but gets more than a little repetitive. This does even out some in the second half of the book as her daughters increasingly have lives outside the home. I also struggle to reconcile some her inability to see Jo’s faults. This may be because she sees much of herself in Jo, and Jo even having talents and a lack of restraint in expressing her passions, but she’s much more clear-eyed about her other daughters weaknesses. The book reads as if Jo has little room for improvement in character, but readers will be left to determine if this is intentional by Miller viewing the world through the eyes of her mother, or a minor oversight that acknowledges that while Jo is a character many girls and young women have aspired to, there are still challenges and consequences to living a life with few filters and concerns for how other people interpret your actions. This book is very well done, and is a great accompaniment to Alcott’s original Little Women. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The upcoming release, Marmee by Sarah Miller, is simply stunning. I am a huge fan of Little Women and read it multiple times as a child and adult, laughing and crying along with the March sisters (and desperately longing for sisters like them!). Miller has turned the familiar story to focus on how the antics of the sisters and the absence of Mr. March affected Margaret, the saintly mother and wife who held the family together in the midst of war and near poverty.

As she did with Ma from Little House on the Prairie in her novel, Caroline, Miller writes vividly about Marmee’s inner life, from the constant worry about money to the irritations she feels at her children’s foibles. While portrayed by Alcott as the epitome of virtue and patience, Marmee’s thoughts reveal a vulnerable woman on the brink of losing it as she tries to feed her children and take care of the destitute in a time period where the country was falling apart around her. She is real - with petty grievances and a quick temper ever ready to explode mixed with a woman on a mission to show love to the lowliest of society in a tangible way.

I related to Marmee so much (she seems like a fellow enneagram 2 to me!), especially her fears for her children. The constant push and pull of wanting them to be strong and independent yet good citizens, the constant worry about their pride and if they were spoiled while knowing they deserved so much more. The book is truly a study in how women carry the mental load of mothering at all times, no matter the ages or circumstances of their children. Some things never change.

This book is a must-read for Little Women fans, but also for historical fiction fans who want to learn more about what women went through on the homefront during the Civil War. This topic is one of my favorites in all of history (I even did my college thesis on women’s diaries from the war), and this book is a perfect example of the daily struggles the women in the North endured even though they were hundreds of miles away from the battles.

I have pre-ordered it for my forever shelves as it’s a book I’ll want to revisit in tandem with a reread of Little Women.

There are so many ways a retelling of Little Women from Marmee's perspective could go wrong, but Sarah Miller not only avoided the obstacles, she totally nailed the voice of Marmee. Through Marmee's diary entries we learn of her internal struggles and motivations, her effort to control her firey temper, the history of the family's financial downfall and how Marmee interacted in her community. Some have critiqued Marmee's character as being a little too sanctimonious, but here she knows her own flaws and fights to use her passion for good and change the lives of people who desperately need help.. I received an advanced e-book for an honest review, but I will be purchasing a print copy of the book for my shelves.

Enjoyable & gentle read that delved further into the life of Abigail Alcott aka Marmee. I only knew the barest of details about the Alcott family and their life in Concord pre Civil War so this was very enlightening. Will definitely recommend.

Usually Beth's death doesn't make me cry, but Sarah Miller made me weep. That's how I knew that I was 100% sold on this adaptation of Little Women. I appreciated the way in which this fleshed our Marmee's character, a character who, except from her interaction with Jo where she tells her that she too has a lot of anger, is pretty underdeveloped. The first part of the book is really a civil war narrative that I think it's easy to forget about in Little Women sometimes but Miller's Marmee made it feel more real. Plus the things from the Alcott's real lives that Miller included were well done. Overall, this leans hard into the nuances of grief, love, and parenting in a particularly effective manner.

Marmee
by Sarah Miller
Pub Date: October 25, 2022
William Morrow and Company
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
From the author of Caroline, a revealing retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved Little Women, from the perspective of Margaret “Marmee” March, about the larger real-world challenges behind the cozy domestic concerns cherished by generations of readers. This is my first book by this author.Sarah Miller began writing her first novel at the age of ten, and has spent the last two decades working in libraries and bookstores. She is the author of two previous historical novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, and The Lost Crown. Her nonfiction debut, The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century, was hailed by the New York Times as "a historical version of Law & Order." She lives in Michigan.
A stunning portrait of the paragon of virtue known as Marmee, a wife left behind, a mother pushed to the brink, a woman with secrets.