This is the story of Christie, an orphan who decides to make her own way in the world. As she grows from young adult to middle age, she tries her hand at a number of different jobs; in fact, almost all of the jobs available to a woman of her era: servant, actress, governess, companion, and seamstress. (I think there are two notable exceptions: prostitute (for obvious reasons) and factory worker (weirdly, especially for a New Englander).) We see her try her hand at each of these jobs, and I found this pretty fascinating, as Alcott seems to be working to make Christie into a figure who can speak for all working women (except for the lazy Irish, of course), even if some of the chapters go off into odd digressions: the governess chapter becomes bogged down in a tedious courtship, while the companion chapter seems like it's from a melodrama and a different book entirely. Most are fun: as a servant, she burns her mistress's dresses (whoops!), while as an actress we get a nineteenth-century perspective on the dangers of acting a part.

After trying her hand at seamstressing, though, Christie has a breakdown and moves in with some incredibly preachy and boring people while she recovers, and though she does eventually work as a nurse, we get to see curiously little of it compared to her previous occupations. I found this part pretty dull, and though Christie's romance in this book is better than any of the ones in Little Women, Alcott still can't write people falling in love to save her life.

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/j... ( )

This is an adult book, and compared to her children's books it is a little more realistic. The topic is a young woman trying to make her way in the world. She wants to earn her living, but there are many obstacles. Deals with predjudice and Women's liberation issues. ( )