Good Wives. Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Being a Sequel to ‘Little Women’. With Illustrations by Jessie T. Mitchell

Louisa May Alcott's father, a New England Transcendentalist philosopher who worked only sporadically, was often unable to support his family - so young Louisa May did all she could to supplement the family income. At age sixteen, she began writing poetry and sensational serial stories, under the name A. M. Barnard, as a way to support the family. Eventually she was able to start writing as a profession. Critics denounced her first novel, Moods, as immoral; regardless, or perhaps therefore, it sold well. In 1868, Alcott published her best-known work, Little Women, following the popular volume with four sequels.