A collection of 18 pieces of writing, Shoes and Stockings by Louisa May Alcott comes with stories about war, love and other important topics, making readers laugh at times, bringing them to tears at other times, and always getting them to contemplate.

Louisa May Alcott was one of the most prolific American writers of the 19th century. She wrote novels and poems, and she published her letters written to her family while she was recovering from typhoid after she had started work as a nurse during the Civil War. She also wrote critical articles about hospital management and about the problems she encountered while she was working as a nurse, but what made her name widely known was her short stories.

Many of the female characters in the Shoes and Stockings stories are in fact figures inspired by the author’s own life. Alcott’s work was largely influenced by her education and her path in life – in her youth, she received education not only from her father, but also from Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson and other influential figures of the age who were all family friends of the Alcotts.

Louisa May had to start earning her own money at a very young age – she worked as a seamstress, a governess and a teacher, too, experiences that appear in her writing as well. She was also an abolitionist, one of the first feminist writers of her time and a supporter of women’s suffrage. She never married and never had children, but she knew and loved children – affection she expressed in her numerous children’s stories.

This collection contains stories written for adults, young and old alike, and it includes two of Alcott’s most popular pieces, a light-hearted story entitled Kitty’s Class Day and Aunt Kipp, another masterfully written story about family and money (or rather, the lack of it).