Behind a Mask

louisa may alcott a.m. barnard doris lessing

When demure Scottish governess Jean Muir arrives at the wealthy Coventry household, the family couldn't be more thrilled with their new young resident. But Jean proves to be no meek and mild governess, but rather a proud and passionate woman with a mysterious past. As she begins to weave her duplicitous spell, the Coventrys quickly surrender one by one to her 'innocent' charms, all quite beguiled by her grace and beauty. Soon the men are quarrelling for her attention, and the women beside themselves with jealousy. Delighted with her success, Miss Muir sets her sights on the highest prize--an association which will secure her future and put an end to her scheming; but she has only three days to claim her victory before the truth, behind her mask, will be exposed.

A world apart from the type of domestic fiction that Louisa May Alcott is generally associated with, Behind a Mask is a dark and ingenious study of deception and betrayal, in which Alcott reveals the ruthless power of a woman scorned.

Genres classicsfictionhistorical fictionmystery19th centuryromancegothicaudiobookfeminismliterature

111 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1866

Places

england, united kingdom,

This edition

Format: 111 pages, Paperback
Published: May 1, 2004 by Hesperus Press Limited
ISBN: 9781843910862
ASIN: 1843910861
Language: English

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About the author

louisa may alcott

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May Alcott and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many well-known intellectuals of the day, including Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Alcott's family suffered from financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used pen names such as A.M. Barnard, under which she wrote lurid short stories and sensation novels for adults that focused on passion and revenge.
Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. It has been adapted for stage plays, films, and television many times.
Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She also spent her life active in reform movements such as temperance and women's suffrage. She died from a stroke in Boston on March 6, 1888, just two days after her father's death.