Eden's Outcasts: the Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson

Sharing a birthday and almost sharing the same day of death, the story of Louisa May Alcott and her father, Bronson Alcott, is complex and intertwined. Most readers will know Louisa May Alcott as the author of Little Women. Fewer readers will know about her father, Bronson, who was a teacher, philosopher, starter of a utopian society, and friend of Emerson and Thoreau. Matteson expertly explores their relationship – a relationship complicated by Bronson’s career faltering while his daughter became more and more famous. Highly readable and full of fascinating historical detail, this biography won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. – Reviewed by Sarah

The Tompkins County Public Library will host a reading and signing by Pulitzer Prize winner John Matteson, Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 1:00 PM in the Borg Warner Community Meeting Room. Eden’s Outcasts is a complement to the 2008 Community Read selection, March by Geraldine Brooks, which tells the story of the absentee father from Alcott’s Little Women. Copies of Eden’s Outcasts will be available for purchase from the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation on the day of the event.