March by Geraldine Brooks

Set during the Civil War, March, explores the moral complexities of war, racism, slavery, and family. Told from the view of Mr. March, the absent father from Louisa May Alcott’s classic, Little Women, the historical novel follows March as he decides to join the Union forces in his forties as a chaplain. Author Geraldine Brooks based Mr. March on Louisa May Alcott’s father, Bronson Alcott, and like Alcott, the main character is an abolitionist, participates in the Underground Railroad, and has radical beliefs in education. Throughout this Pulitzer Prize-winning story, glimpses of March’s life before his marriage, and his letters home to his wife and girls convey wonderfully lush historical details and a beautiful love story. - Reviewed by Sarah

This summer, the Tompkins County Public Library is sponsoring our 7th annual Community Read. We urge all Tompkins County residents to read this historical novel and meet with friends, neighbors, community organizations, and area libraries to discuss March by Geraldine Brooks. TCPL has 300 copies of March for people to check out, and copies are available at all other local libraries. We also have copies in various foreign languages, as well as foreign language copies of Little Women. TCPL also has extra copies of Little Women available, as well as the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Eden’s Outcasts: the Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson (Matteson will be at TCPL on August 16th at 1 PM for a lecture). Copies of Cornell’s New Student Reading Project title, Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills, are available in addition and together these books offer readers a wonderful reading complement to the Civil War era.

Please join us for our Community Read Kick-Off this Saturday at 1 PM in the Borg Warner Community Meeting Room, when Jan Turnquist, director of Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott's famed childhood home, will assume the identity of Alcott to tackle 19th Century issues like suffrage, abolition, the Underground Railroad and equal education. For more information, please visit: http://www.tcpl.org/march/events.html.