Little Writer (Marmee’s Girls)
In Little Writer, a retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 classic Little Women from Jo March’s first-person vantage, author Marina Hill reimagines the March family as Black; she also depicts their wealthy friend Laurie Laurence as Asian and Laurie’s tutor, John Brooke, as Native American. Other than these racial alterations, the author follows the general plot of Little Women, down to Alcott’s cranky insistence on refusing to allow Jo to marry Laurie. (Those who weren’t convinced by Alcott likely won’t be convinced by Hill either.)
While Hill’s concept is an interesting one and Hill writes well, I didn’t really warm to this book. For one thing, Jo’s traits that are so endearing in the third person become somewhat less so in the first person. For another, while the colorblind society imagined here is a pleasant thing, it robs the novel of its historical context and makes the reader wonder exactly why the nation is at war (presumably, the South did not progress as far as the North). Indeed, everyone is so enlightened in Hill’s version—the Black Marches are accepted and indeed beloved at every level of society, and a major character admits to a same-sex attraction without eliciting so much as a raised eyebrow—that one wonders why all but a comparative few appear to have missed the memo on gender equality.
When Jo describes her clothing at several points in the novel—newsboy hats, vests, and skirts—it brings to mind her character’s eclectic costumes in the 2019 film adaptation of Little Women by Greta Gerwig. I suspect that it is fans of that movie, along with those who find the Victorian mindset of Alcott off-putting, who will probably be the most enthusiastic readers of Little Writer. Others may question whether Little Women really needs improving upon.
