Louisa May Alcott as Jo March

The finest literarycollection would not be complete without Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic, Little Women. Perhaps no other fictionwriter is more strongly connected to a character of her own creation thanAlcott is with Jo March. It is no secret that Alcott modeled Jo on herselfatopic that practically begs for further examination. In Kelly O’Connor McNees’debut novel, The Lost Summer of LouisaMay Alcott, McNees mixes fact and fiction as she examines Alcott’s life andintimates an unknown love affair between Alcott and a handsome young merchantshe met during the scantily documented summer of 1855. Like the leading lady inLittle Women, Alcott emerges as acharming young woman in The Lost Summerof Louisa May Alcott, one who is torn between the expectations of women in19th-century society and her unfulfilled desire for personal independence and acareer as a writer.

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott provides a tale of romantic fiction that will havefans of Little Women falling in lovewith Alcott in much the same way they fell in love with Jo March. Forgenerations, Jo, that feisty and spirited budding feminist, has been the objectof admiration for many young readers. In TheLost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, the famous author herself emerges as aheroine as the passionate independence of Jo is uncovered within her alter egoLouisa.

McNees, 30, is aformer English teacher whose countless readings of Little Women inspired her to research the enigmatic Americanauthoran endeavor that ended in the creation of this simple and lively storyof first love. McNees is a Chicago resident whogrew up in Michigan and attended the University of Michiganin Ann Arbor. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott isa wonderfully creative and innocently sweet story that imagines a summer lostto historya summer that changed the course of Alcott’s writing career and ledto the story of love and heartbreak recorded in Little Women.

Kelly O’ConnorMcNees will appear at Boswell Book Co.on Thursday, May 6, at 7 p.m.