Louisa May Alcott
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
"It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.
"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff.
"We've got Father and Mother, and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner."
So begins Little Women, Louisa May Alcott's most famous book. Written in a semi-autobiographical style, in many ways this beginning encapsulates much of Louisa's upbringing and some of her deep-rooted values.
Louisa was born on November 29, 1832, and grew up in a family that lived in poverty, moving frequently - 22 times in 30 years - seeking work and affordable housing while often relying on support from others. This constant state of financial problems required Louisa and her sisters to contribute to the family's finances from a young age. Louisa's various jobs included seamstress, governess, and teacher roles. "I will do something by-and-by. Don't care what, teach, sew, act, write, anything to help the family," Louisa would say.
But through this hardship, the kids learned to live simple lives and care deeply for people. And while their father didn't provide financial stability, he was a pioneering educator who emphasized learning for his girls, an atypical decision for the time. His teachings and mentoring from family and friends, such as famous writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, gave Louisa a unique and particularly literary upbringing. She called Emerson "the man who has me most by his life, his books, his society."
Louisa's writing life started in her early years. She kept diaries and wrote poems, beginning around age ten. In one of her earlier entries written around this time, Louisa wrote,