March (novel)
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| March | |
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Geraldine Brooks |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical, Novel |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Publication date | 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
| Pages | 288 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0670033359 |
March is a novel by Geraldine Brooks. It is a parallel novel that retells Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women from the point of view of Alcott's protagonists' absent father. Brooks has inserted the novel into the classic tale, revealing the events surrounding March's absence during the American Civil War in 1862.
The novel won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Mr. March, an abolitionist and chaplain, is driven by his conscience to leave his home and family in Concord, Massachusetts in order to participate in the war. During this time, March writes letters to his family, but withholds the true extent of the brutality and injustices he witnesses on and off the battlefields. After suffering from a prolonged illness stemming from poor conditions on a cotton farm in Virginia, the recovering March, despite his guilt and grief over his survival when others had perished, returns home to his wife and Little Women.
[edit] Sources
The character of March is based in part on Alcott's father, Amos Bronson Alcott, who was a teacher and abolitionist. Brooks used as source materials Mr. Alcott's letters and journals, and the writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who were friends of the Alcott family. Thoreau and Emerson also appear in the novel as secondary characters and friends of the Marches.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gilead by Marilynne Robinson |
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2006 |
Succeeded by The Road by Cormac McCarthy |
