The Other March Sisters is a retelling of Little Women, sharing the experiences of Amy, Meg, and Beth during Jo’s time in New York. Each sister gets their own part in the novel, written by one of three authors. I am a big fan of the original story, but I do not mind modernized classics, and I was eager for the supposed feminist angle of this book, having wanted more for the sisters in the original story.
I was particularly looking forward to the development of Amy and Laurie’s relationship and was hoping to get more from their story in this retelling. This was not the case. I believe in, and advocate for, representation in books, but the queer representation in this story lacks depth. From my perspective, it read like “sprinkling in” representation just for the sake of said representation. It did not feel like the story wanted to fully commit to this new angle.
I read in several other reviews of this book that Meg’s chapter was written by an author that only read Little Women to write her section of the story. I can’t confirm this information, but it would help explain the decision to villainize Marmee. Retelling or not, making Marmee a manipulative antagonist to Meg is such a departure from the original storyline, and there is little material to support this version of Marmee in the other sister’s chapters. It just didn’t make any sense without supporting justification, and Meg’s section read like it lacked an understanding of the original story.
I enjoyed Beth’s chapter the most, having felt that she was the least developed sister in the original story. Her determination and this less passive version of Beth was refreshing, and I enjoyed the scenes of her as a piano teacher.
I was happy to return to world of Little Women in this story, but I wanted more from this reimagining. This book would serve as an excellent book club read, as it would prompt some great discussions regarding the departures from the original story.

Because of my love for little woman I think I had a majorly huge expectation for/from this book. It was disappointing and kind of fell flat for me unfortunately. I was hoping for more from the characters and the story and it just wasn’t there.

Review: The Other March Sisters

This book was written by fans of Ms Alcott’s Little Women series. They apparently felt that Jo’s sisters did not get their fair share of the story. They also wanted the subplot of queerness in the original story to be more overt and to extend into the lives of Meg, Beth and Amy.

I enjoyed the depiction of the constant subversive work by women to manage their own lives and be the authors of their own life stories at a time and in a class that worked strongly against acknowledging the personhood of women, and refused them any sexuality at all. All three sisters sought autonomy, Meg within her marriage, Beth within the parameters of her illness and Amy in her art and romantic life. All three had to contend with the views of the very strong minded Marmee.

I thought all three women became much more human and interesting in this book. There is a set of questions for book clubs/reflections at the back that I found excellent.

Thank you to the publisher and author for an advance copy of this book and the opportunity to review this story.

Definitely worth reading. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

The Other March Sisters is a retelling of Little Women from the prospective of Amy, Meg, and Beth, during the time Jo leaves for New York. With Jo being left out of the story, the voices of her sisters tell their own stories of what happened before Jo comes back home. Each sister's part is told by one of the three authors, and they also drew inspiration from the real life of Louisa May Alcott and her sisters.

While some parts of this book were strong, like the relationship growth with Amy and Laurie, there were others that just fell flat and didn't work. Having Marmee pretty much become the antagonist to Meg and to discover that she manipulated both Meg and John into getting married because for some reason Marmee would never want Meg to improve her social standing was just weird. It made no logical sense that Marmee would depend solely on Amy to make a good match, when I always seemed to remember her wanting her daughters to be happy with their choices. I seriously thought she was going to have Meg arrested for helping her friend have a miscarriage and keep Meg's children because Marmee knew best how to care for them when they were sick. After finishing the book, I found out that the author who wrote Meg's section only read Little Women in order to write this book, which now makes total sense. The section read like someone who didn't understand the characters, and it completely showed. That also explained why Marmee seemed different in the other sections.

I have to say I was excited to read about the developing relationship with Amy and Laurie, but of course that had to have a little twist in it as well that added nothing to the story. Even the way they had to retcon Laurie's proposal to Jo to make it a misunderstanding was odd just so they could make it so Amy was always his first choice. As a fan of the original story, I was really hoping to love this book and it had so much promise for me, but didn't quite deliver.

As someone who has loved Little Women since the first time I read it as a child many years ago, I was beyond excited to get to read an advance copy of The Other March Sisters by Linda Epstein, Ally Malinenko and Liz Parker. In this book the authors shift the focus away from Jo and give each of her sisters a chance to shine while drawing inspiration from the lives of L.M. Alcott's sisters. We see newly wed Meg struggling with married life and motherhood before finding purpose in using her knowledge of plants and herbs to help other women, Beth experiencing anger and frustration at the limitations placed on her not just by her illness but by the fears of her mother, but also experiencing the joys of first love, and Amy realising that remaining true to herself and her art is more important than making a financially advantageous match.
There is a strong feminist slant to the stories of the three sisters, and I really liked the new take on their lives but I did struggle quite a bit with the reframing of their mother as the "villain " of the story. Villain may be a little harsh but she feels very different from the beloved Marmee of the original book, more demanding and overbearing and much more unlikeable. I also wish that the book was a little longer, so that the individual stories could have been expanded a little more and allowed to develop at a more gentle pace. While I liked all three stories, it was Beth's that resonated with me most, she was in my opinion the least developed of the sisters in the original book so seeing her as less passive and more frustrated and determined made her much more interesting. The tone and themes of the book are definitely more modern but that did not bother me, I liked the fresh perspective.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to the NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book I’m exchange for honest feedback. Truth be told I never read Little Women, but having watched (and loved) the 1994 movie multiple times I liked the concept of this book. It was also interesting to read the inspiration for each sisters’ story comes in part from real life details of Louisa May Alcott’s sisters. I appreciated that each sister’s story showed the character’s strength and that they were all tied to women being their own person outside of just being a wife or mother. This book was a fun spin on what I know of the original story though admittedly there were parts of Amy’s Redux story that bored me. I would give this a 3.75, rounded up to 4 stars.

I love anything "Little Women", and this book delves into the lives of Amy, Beth and Meg which is a great different perspective than others I have read. The writing was good, and kept my interest. That being said, the tone of the book was a little harsher than I would prefer.

I really enjoyed this story of the little women! I liked how it focused on the other sisters and how they found their own happiness, since the original story focused so much on Jo.

As a lover of Little Women, I jumped at the chance for this ARC. I was even able to get a physical ARC, not just an e-ARC. However I think I have decided retellings of Little Women are just not for me. The characters are just too ingrained in my head to try to see them any other way. This one intrigued me though as it was going to tell the stories of Meg, Beth, and Amy while Jo was in New York. I was especially excited for Amy's part as I was hoping for the romance of her and Laurie. That is not what I got. (sad face) I think I should add that this is a feminist retelling. I thought the book was fine. It is these three authors' version of events. Each sister gets one part of the book, except Amy gets a little extra part at the end. I will say that I did appreciate the authors adding in things from the real lives of Anna, Lizzie, and May Alcott and the book will still look good on my Little Women bookshelf.

-"Being silent is not a sign of weakness or ignorance. In fact, being more keen to listen than to talk is a gift."

I didn't read Little Women until I was in my 20's, and when I finally did I didn't have the same rose colored glasses towards the March parents that I might have if I had read it as a child. Some people might find the treatment Marmee and Jo got here as harsh, but I appreciated the authors' perspectives on the dynamics of the March family. Told from the points of view of the non-Jo sisters this book gave more insight into the motivations of Amy, Beth, and Meg. I especially enjoyed the chapters about Meg and her garden.

Thanks to Kensington Publishing for sending me this ARC free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed reading this book, the prose was lovely and enticing, each author poured their heart and soul into their recreations of each character. I really liked how much they took from the real Alcott sisters to inspire a deeper look at the March sisters.

However, I think it lacked ambition somewhat. It only takes place while the March sisters are adults and separated not giving much time for character development; Amy became the most developed character as she had two parts of the book all to herself but I would have loved more from Meg and Beth!

I felt the length of the novel did not do justice to the characters, they needed more space. Not to mention framing Jo and Marmee as the antagonists of the piece felt like a slap in the face to those who truly loved the original but i feel I could have accepted it with more depth and more words on the page to explore it!

A lot of the history was researched very well but something about the tone felt anachronistic for the time particularly in regard to sexuality and reproductive rights there was a definite modern tone.

Overall, I think it’s a great character study of beloved literary sisters and it only fell down due to its limitations if they had only been more ambitious with the length it would have been a fast favourite. I think I will definitely seek out more work by these authors though as I loved their prose.

This book dances between heartbreak and hope, weaving together distinct voices to reimagine a classic tale. Each perspective offers a fresh look at sisterhood, resilience, and self-discovery.

Little Women is one of my favorite books: it’s a masterpiece of storytelling presented as slice of life in historic Civil-War era New England, following four very different sisters through their teenage years into young adulthood, guided by the moral compass of a kind father (off soldiering) and a warm and loving mother. Impoverished and still happy and charitable, their good deeds are noticed by a kind and wealthy neighbor, and they are befriended by his grandson, who falls for one sister and marries another.

I named my daughter Josephine in part for irrepressible, invincible Jo March, the central figure of the famous novel. Unfortunately, Little Women is a book that is still dismissed as domestic fiction and women’s issues, when it should be required reading and part of the American canon. The characters of Little Women are based on Louisa May Alcott and her three sisters, their home in Concord, Massachusetts, and Louisa’s passion for becoming a writer. Famously against marriage herself, the story goes she was directed to marry off all the sisters in her novel. It’s only in recent years there has been much speculation about Louisa, her sexuality, her gender-bending, and her choice of spinsterhood.

In The Other March Sisters, Jo is off writing in New York, and she and her three sisters and their friends and companions are examined with a modern lens: Beth, Jo, and Laurie are cast as queer, bringing to light a full spectrum of sexuality that was no less likely to exist in the late 1800s than today. I loved this revisioning.

Authors Epstein, Malinenko, and Parker retell Little Women from the points of view of a rtist Amy, abroad and shopping on the marriage mart for the match that will get the family out of poverty; motherly Meg, struggling with a marriage that feels more like a machination by her mother every day; and dear Beth, wasting away from scarlet fever complications and challenged by a new friend to do something with her one precious life. Characterizations are vivid, in spite of the short space alloted. These revamped characters are more heavily influenced by their real-life counterparts, with Beth less sweet and more angry (true to Lizzie’s persona, due to her chronic illness, pain and suffering); Meg more introspective about her marriage and desirous of real work and a real life; Amy more industrious and less silly and annoying.

The authors strive to give happier endings to all: Amy gets the art experiences she wants, Meg finds a lucrative hobby in herbalism and love for her husband, and Beth gets a love interest. The novel reflects on women’s rights, gender, queerness, abolition and abortion, but mostly in very surface-level ways.

I love reading reimaginations of Little Women, from Mrs. March to Great or Nothing to The Spring Girls to Jo & Beth, Meg & Amy, and own several different formats, editions and retellings. As someone who has read Little Women at least thirty times, if not more, I found this narrative to be overfull of references to the original. New scenes are seeded in, with Beth as a piano instructor, Meg tending a garden of medicinal weeds and assisting with an on-the-page abortion, and Amy touring Europe as an artist. Meg’s story is the most compelling and timely, for sure. Each sister gets less than 100 pages, so there is not a lot of space for depth–this might have worked better as a three-book series, and the writing is good, I just wanted more. Marmee’s presentation as a villain didn’t work for me. The reimagining of what happened when Jo was not center stage is refreshing and true enough to character, but overall, the writing feels more like a too-brief retelling through a new lens, without Louisa’s magnificent prose, the New England sensibility, and the Puritan work ethic and strong spirituality. It’s a must-have for fans, still.

This doesn’t come out for three months, but it’s getting enough buzz I wanted to get my review out.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #TheOtherMarchSisters via #NetGalley courtesy of Kensington Publishing.

I read Little Women so many times. It was fun to read a different take on the trajectory of the sisters' lives. I think some reviewers were upset about some of the themes in the book, but I loved that these were addressed. Even though LGBTQ+ wasn't discussed much in literature in the time period, it most definitely was in existence at the time. I appreciated the way they were presented in the novel.

I loved Little Women - such a treasured childhood read for me, I have huge fondness for it. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have requested this book as it was never going to slot in seamlessly.
It was too jarring and didn’t fit with how I feel about the original.

I was looking forward to this book as Little Women, Little Men, and Jo's boys played a big part in my boring, hot summers in Texas. I read these multiple times during my childhood for the warm cozies they filled me with. I cannot say the same for The Other March Sisters, a collection of short stories by Linda Epstein, Ally Malineinko, and Liz Parker. I wanted to like this book as a sequel to the original. The premise is good, yet something is lost in the transition to the page.

The sisters, Beth, Amy, and Meg--(no Jo)-- have separate stories that are supposed to enlarge on some events in the original novel, adding LGBTQ themes. A lighter touch would have worked better in the historical timeframe, instead it reads like there are splashes of contemporary behavior with modern phrasing. Perhaps a contemporary setting would have been a better fit.

Meg's story was good, I liked that she portrayed emotions not uncommon to worn-down new moms. She struggles to help herself and others within the strict social rules of her era. The dark side of her tale left me cold because it maimed a favorite character from the original work. That said, it was my favorite of the three stories. Though this book did not resonate with me, those readers who have not read the original book, or did not love it, will probably enjoy it.

Excellent book, love it! Looking forward to more from this author! Apologies for the lateness of my review

Little Women was my favorite book growing up and I always love going back to this story. The idea that we are getting the -real- story was fun to me. I liked how the Amy/Laurie plot was expanded, but one “twist” felt super forced. The Marmee slander took this book down a star. The moment she was hateful to Meg shattered a piece of my soul. I saw that the author who wrote that part had never read the book…maybe that’s why it was so jarring. The concept of this book was good and the bones of the stories were there, but it dragged on in some parts and some character choices didn’t make sense.

I have tried to read this book for several months now, but I can't get into it. Sadly there's nothing fresh about this story.

This book felt like a warm hug, in that same endearing way Little Women does.

While Amy and Beth’s stories were compelling, the pages spent with Meg were my favorite. I felt seen: the mother who feels like the woman she was before is lost in the day-to-day parenting tasks. The way she blossomed, rediscovering herself beyond mothering was delightful to witness. Also, the way Meg and John navigate this period in their marriage was so well-written.

All three sisters expanded into their dreams and it was a joy to be along for it. It was refreshing to see these three sisters through a modern lens.

The Other March Sisters comes out February 25th next year. Be sure to pre-order or request your library purchase a copy!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.