“Little Woman in Blue” by Jeannine Atkins will be the novel under discussion at the next Fruitlands Reads event on Saturday, Sept. 10, at 2 p.m. in the Family Learning Center. Copies of the book are available at the museum store and at the public library, and people are welcome to attend even if they have not read the book. Light refreshments.
Of the four daughters of Bronson and Abigail Alcott, Louisa May is usually the one at the center of interest, most notably because of her widely acclaimed 19th-century novel “Little Women.” But in Atkins’ book, it is the youngest, May, who has center stage. Readers may come to this book with the memory of Amy March as the spoiled youngest daughter, fretting about fashion and the size of her nose. But in real life May Alcott was an aspiring artist, caught up in conflict with her sister Louisa, battling gender stereotype, and struggling to negotiate between family duties and her personal dreams. Atkins shows a strong woman in the ever-relevant struggle to balance her artistic self with desire for marriage and motherhood.
