Most young girls who are readers (at least of my era!) will have indulged in Little Women, relishing the relationships between the sisters, identifying with at least one of them, and swooning over Laurie or Professor Bhaer. Heidi Chiavaroli’s new release is inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s life, some of which you may find surprising! Enjoy this insight into the author’s life and enter the giveaway for your chance to win a copy of The Orchard House, thanks to Tyndale Publishers.

10 Little Known Facts about

Louisa May Alcott

I have always wanted to write a novel surrounding the legendary author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott. But I had no idea how profound this extraordinary woman truly was until I dove into my research for The Orchard House, peeling back layer after intricate layer of fascinating fact. Louisa completely encapsulated beloved Jo March—and yet in many ways, her experiences went far beyond the main character found in Little Women.

Here are ten surprising facts I dug up in my research.

1. Louisa loved to run.

In a time where it was not common or proper for a woman to run (at all, but especially not for exercise), Louisa defied the rules and listened to the call of her body and spirit to run through the woods and hills of her home. No running attire, no running companions. Just nature, her moving legs, rapid breaths, and the sense of God’s presence. Today, Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House conducts an annual benefit walk/run in honor of Louisa’s love of running.

2. Louisa was a nurse during the Civil War.

While a part of her truly did long to go to battle (as Jo states so boldly in Little Women), Louisa settled for a position as nurse. In December 1862, at the age of thirty, she left for Washington DC and became a nurse at the Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown. She worked hard in terrible conditions, helping the men through their suffering and becoming severely sick herself by January. She wrote of her experiences in her memoir, Hospital Sketches, including her complicated feelings for a patient, John Suhre, who would end up dying. The historical heroine in my book The Orchard House is Johanna Suhre, John’s sister.

3. Louisa nearly died of typhoid fever during her time as a nurse.

The abominable conditions in the Union Hotel Hospital created a pestilence of illnesses. Despite her exercise regime and determination to get plenty of fresh air, Louisa fell ill to typhoid pneumonia. Common treatment back then included hefty doses of calomel, a poisonous mercury compound, which made Louisa even sicker. Her father came to bring her home and her parents and sisters slowly nursed her back to health. She even lost her hair during this time (another bit that echoes, albeit for different reasons, in her novel!). Though she beat the illness, she was never fully well thereafter and struggled with a variety of ailments for the rest of her life.

4. Louisa created her character of Laurie from two important men in her life.

Childhood friend and love interest Laurie has captivated millions of readers, but Laurie was not based on any one person, but rather two men in Louisa’s life. The first was her childhood friend Alfred (Alf) Whitman, who arrived in Concord when he was fifteen and befriended the Alcott sisters. They put on plays with him, similar to that found in Little Women. Louisa called Alf the “sober” part of her character Laurie. For the more carefree, “whirligig half” of Laurie, she gave credit to a young Polish man named Ladislas Wisniewski whom she met on a trip to Europe in 1865.

5. Louisa secretly wrote Gothic pulp fiction.

In The Orchard House, my two contemporary characters celebrate the release (in 1995) of one of Louisa’s lesser-known novels, A Long Fatal Love Chase. Louisa gravitated to “sensational,” rather dark stories, and when her publisher asked for a book for girls, she at first scoffed at the idea of writing “moral pap for the young.”

So fascinating, Heidi – thank you for sharing about Louisa!

Two women, one living in present day Massachusetts and another in Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House soon after the Civil War, overcome their own personal demons and search for a place to belong.

2001
Abandoned by her own family, Taylor is determined not to mess up her chance at joining the home of her best friend, Victoria Bennett. But despite attending summer camp at Louisa May Alcott’s historic Orchard House with Victoria and sharing dreams of becoming famous authors, Taylor struggles to fit in. As she enters college and begins dating, it feels like Taylor is finally finding her place and some stability . . . until Victoria’s betrayal changes everything.

1865
While Louisa May Alcott is off traveling the world, Johanna Suhre accepts a job tending Louisa’s aging parents and their home in Concord. Soon after arriving at Orchard House, Johanna meets Nathan Bancroft and, ignoring Louisa’s words of caution, falls in love and accepts Nathan’s proposal. But before long, Johanna experiences her husband’s dark side, and she can’t hide the bruises that appear.

2019
After receiving news of Lorraine Bennett’s cancer diagnosis, Taylor knows she must return home to see her adoptive mother again. Now a successful author, Taylor is determined to spend little time in Concord. Yet she becomes drawn into the story of a woman who lived there centuries before. And through her story, Taylor may just find forgiveness and a place to belong.

6. Orchard House is not the actual home Louisa grew up in.

The house of Louisa’s childhood is actually six hundred feet away from Orchard House, where Louisa wrote and based her book. The Wayside is the actual place where she and her sisters made their plays with childhood friend Alf, had their Christmases, and experienced the pain, realities, and joys of growing up.

7. Louisa and her family were firm supporters of the oppressed.

The Alcotts put charity over material comforts. They put intellectual pursuits and political activism over frivolous activity. Her home was a stop on the Underground Railroad, her mother was one of the first paid social workers ever, and the family were huge proponents of the vote for women. Louisa was the first woman to register to vote in her hometown of Concord, Massachusetts.

8. While Louisa never married or had any children, she did raise her young niece, Lulu.

When May, the youngest of the Alcott sisters, died in Europe from complications having to do with childbirth, one of her last requests to her husband was that their daughter, Lulu (named after Louisa), be sent to Concord to be raised by Louisa. Lulu was a high-spirited, sometimes-temperamental child, and Louisa often wrote stories to inspire the girl to mold her character.

9. Louisa was the breadwinner of the family out of necessity.

While she loved her father, Amos Alcott, fiercely, Louisa also fought frustration with him over his seeming inability to provide for the family, which ended up falling to her and her writing. Amos held wild ideas and was prone to depression. When Louisa was a preteen, he moved his family to a utopian society where the women and girls were forced to do all the laborious farmwork while the men went out looking for converts. Not only did the family nearly starve, but the ideals of the commune threatened the Alcotts’ marriage and devalued the role of a women. Though the Alcotts left eventually, there is no doubt this caused Louisa to reevaluate some of her father’s beliefs. She combated this by becoming determined to make her own way. And make her own way she did.

10. She despised the fame writing Little Women brought her.

While she was grateful for the success of the novel and the money it brought, she despised being “lionized.” Many visitors came to her home, knocking on her door. She would often answer pretending to be the maid, in hopes her eager fans would depart.

Thank you, Heidi! What fascinating insights into Louisa and her life.

Heidi Chiavaroli (pronounced shev-uh-roli . . . sort of like Chevrolet and ravioli mushed together) wrote her first story in third grade, titled I’d Cross the Desert for Milk. It wasn’t until years later that she revisited writing, using her two small boys’ nap times to pursue what she thought at the time was a foolish dream. Despite a long road to publication, she hasn’t stopped writing since!

Heidi writes women’s fiction, combining her love of history and literature to write split-time stories. Her debut novel, Freedom’s Ring, was a Carol Award winner and a Christy Award finalist, a Romantic Times Top Pick and a Booklist Top Ten Romance Debut. Heidi loves exploring places that whisper of historical secrets, especially with her family. She loves running, hiking, baking, and dates with her husband. Heidi makes her home in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Visit her online at heidichiavaroli.com.

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Buy from Amazon: The Orchard House or Koorong