March took me by my idealistic hands and thrust me completely into the Civil War where I experienced it in ways I had not before.

It was easy for me to become invested in this story because it is based on the mysterious Mr. March from Little Women. He is the husband of Marmee, and the father of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.

Geraldine Brooks wrote an important story with this book. In her Afterword, she describes how the characters in Little Women were based on Louisa May Alcott’s own family. In her initial research, Ms Brooks discovered that the absent Mr. March could very likely have been modelled after Louisa May Alcott’s own father, Bronson Alcott. Like Mr. March in this novel, Mr. Alcott also counted Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau among his closest personal friends. Mr. Alcott kept journals throughout his life – an astonishing 61 journals – and his letters can be found in 37 volumes in the Harvard College Library.

There are many other parallels and paths of divergence between the fictional Mr. March and the real-life Mr. Alcott. To be fair, I will leave the balance of these for readers to discover for themselves when they read Ms Brooks’ Afterword. Suffice it to say that there are many similarities in ideals, values, and character, and there are also some parallels between their lives and occupations.

This novel is written in the first person, as recorded by Mr. March. Late in the novel, it switches the first person narrative to Marmee – a bonus for this reader and a wise choice due to the time it covered. We have an open door to Marmee’s heart and her own perceptions of the reality they find themselves living. When the story switches back to Mr. March, he is hesitantly facing his homeward journey – home to Concord, to Marmee, and to his little women.

This account of the battles and gruesome circumstances Mr. March becomes part of is offset by recollections from his early life. One incident in particular is a life-changing experience in many ways. This is when, as an 18-year-old trying to make a living ‘down South’ as a peddler, he comes across a family and a place that becomes his ideal and one he wishes to emulate himself. He also meets Grace, a young black woman who cares for the ill mistress of the family, and whose intelligence and wisdom are already in full nascent growth – as rapid as nature herself grows produce in that climate. With that meeting, young Mr. March’s idealism and moral standards take root.

It is also those qualities within Mr. March that cause him and his family much hardship later on. It is also those qualities that ensure the events Mr. March encounters in the war, including a chance return to the now-devastated plantation he had visited more than twenty years before, find him a prime candidate for what we now know of as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Far more than a continuation of a lovely novel for girls and young women, March is an in-depth study of war, of peaceful times, of the intellect versus the heart, of idealism versus pragmatism, of actions and their consequences, and of communication and communion between people, especially perhaps husbands and wives. Beautifully written, with a pace that is perfect, I am so glad that I finally had the chance to read this book and I can’t help but recommend it to everyone who wishes to see deeper into the human heart within the framework of characters we already know and love.

I had a strong desire to reach this novel as I had a great appreciation for her book on the plague in England during the 1600s, namely 'Year of Wonders'. I thought that a novel about the father of Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) would be highly interesting. This was because I had read that classic about 2 years ago (at least Part 1, and I don't recall reading Part 2 [Good Wives]) and had really liked it. So, I was curious to know what had happened to Mr. March.

Well, I went into reading this book simply knowing that it had a character, Mr. March, who was a'side-bar' part of Little Women, a book that I had enjoyed. However, my memory is not so good, and I should have remembered that this was about the Civil War (like, 'duhhh Jim!'). Wow, this book was really a Debbie Downer to read. I finished it in 2 days because I just wanted to get through it. The graphic descriptions of war, the dead, and the wounded - she left absolutely no details out in the goriness of the war. In 'Year of Wonders', I had commented that her graphic descriptions of certain things made me uncomfortable, but I also said that I felt she was painting a realistic picture of something that actually occurred. So, I did appreciate the writing, despite the goriness.

Here, she continued in the same vein as she had left off in 'Year of Wonders'. In that book, she described what a swollen lymph node in the neck of a plague patient looked like and what the pus looked like when the node burst. It was super yucky. And in 'March', she even describes the smell of pus! Yeeeeeeshhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

War is always fascinating to read about, but it is truly the worst if you imagine yourself living it for a moment. This is a story about war, the American Civil War, which rivals World War II in the number of thrilling details and surpasses it in terms of noble purpose. It is the war that was fought over slavery, a war that was waged for the sake of the nation and had consequences that benefited humanity as a whole.

The author drew inspiration from the absent father in the story "Little Women" to weave a complete story around him, with all the elements of a full life and a human journey in all its stages. And all of this revolves around the war and its intense variables and what it does to people.

The story begins with a heart-wrenching scene as a husband writes to his wife to start a battle. The author succeeds in describing the horrors of the battle and painting the pain with great artistry.

The author writes about war, love, stability, loss, and freedom, trying to revive what has died within us.

The inspiration of the story "Little Women" for the author is worthy of respect. To leave a story that makes us want to create another story from it is something to be envied.