Thank you William Morrow, #partner, for the advanced copy of Marmee in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.
Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio
Published: October 25, 2022
Summary:
From the author of Caroline, a revealing retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved Little Women, from the perspective of Margaret “Marmee” March, about the larger real-world challenges behind the cozy domestic concerns cherished by generations of readers.
In 1861, war is raging in the South, but in Concord, Massachusetts, Margaret March has her own battles to fight. With her husband serving as an army chaplain, the comfort and security of Margaret’s four daughters– Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy–now rest on her shoulders alone. Money is tight and every month, her husband sends less and less of his salary with no explanation. Worst of all, Margaret harbors the secret that these financial hardships are largely her fault, thanks to a disastrous mistake made over a decade ago which wiped out her family’s fortune and snatched away her daughters’ chances for the education they deserve.
Yet even with all that weighs upon her, Margaret longs to do more–for the war effort, for the poor, for the cause of abolition, and most of all, for her daughters. Living by her watchwords, “Hope and keep busy,” she fills her days with humdrum charity work to keep her worries at bay. All of that is interrupted when Margaret receives a telegram from the War Department, summoning her to her husband’s bedside in Washington, D.C. While she is away, her daughter Beth falls dangerously ill, forcing Margaret to confront the possibility that the price of her own generosity toward others may be her daughter’s life.
A stunning portrait of the paragon of virtue known as Marmee, a wife left behind, a mother pushed to the brink, a woman with secrets.
My thoughts:
As soon as I saw this book, I knew I had to read it…Little Women has always been a favorite of mine, the movie at least and I finally just read the book and absolutely loved it. And I adored this retelling of the story, from the mother’s perspective.
While I don’t think that you need to have read Little Women to enjoy this story, I do think that knowing the overall gist of that story – whether it be from the book or movie – will give you a better appreciation of this book. At least that’s how I felt. And maybe it’s because I had just read Little Women not too long ago and so it was fresh in my mind, but I felt I really got the little nuances of this book that much more. I loved that it was told in diary format, and is most definitely a more adult version of that story. It gets into the trials and tribulations, the struggles that Marmee was faced with during the war, while her husband was away. I loved that we get her side of things, her internal dialogue if you will, about how she saw things and how she didn’t always agree with the decisions her husband was making when it came to their family. This is a different view from that of the book or movie, which is all told from the girls’ perspective and it has left me wanting to pick up Little Women again, or perhaps watch one of the many renditions of the movie.
This was my first time reading Sarah Miller and it definitely will not be the last. I know her previous book, Caroline, was a retelling of the Little House stories told from Ma’s point of view and I absolutely want to read that! As far as retellings go, Marmee was everything I hoped it would be and I definitely recommend it to anyone who loved Little Women!
Audio thoughts:
I ended up switching between print and audio and I found it to be such a delight to hear these journal entries come to life. The narrator, Kirsten Potter, a favorite of mine, did such a great job with this one, really bringing the voice of Marmee to life. Whether you read, listen or do a combo like I did, I don’t think you can go wrong…this is one book not to be missed!
