<b>Little Women by Louisa May Alcott</b>&nbsp;Little Women is a&nbsp;coming-of-age&nbsp;novel written by American novelist&nbsp;Louisa May Alcott&nbsp;(1832&ndash;1888).<br />Originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, Alcott wrote the book over several months at the request of her publisher.<br /><br />The story follows the lives of the four March sisters&mdash;<i>Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy</i>&mdash;and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. Loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters,:?202?&nbsp;it is classified as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel.<br /><br /><i>Little Women</i>&nbsp;was an immediate commercial and critical success, with readers eager for more about the characters. Alcott quickly completed a second volume (titled&nbsp;<i>Good Wives</i>&nbsp;in the United Kingdom, though the name originated with the publisher and not Alcott). It was also met with success.<br /><br />The two volumes were issued in 1880 as a single novel titled&nbsp;<i>Little Women</i>. Alcott subsequently wrote two sequels to her popular work, both also featuring the March sisters:&nbsp;<i>Little Men</i>&nbsp;(1871) and&nbsp;<i>Jo&#39;s Boys</i>&nbsp;(1886).<br /><br />The novel has been said to address three major themes: &quot;domesticity, work, and true love, all of them interdependent and each necessary to the achievement of its heroine&#39;s individual identity.&quot;:?200?&nbsp;According to&nbsp;Sarah Elbert, Alcott created a new form of literature, one that took elements from romantic children&#39;s fiction and combined it with others from sentimental novels, resulting in a totally new genre. Elbert argues that within&nbsp;<i>Little Women</i>&nbsp;can be found the first vision of the &quot;All-American girl&quot; and that her various aspects are embodied in the differing March sisters.