March by Geraldine Brooks

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 March by Geraldine Brooks 

This book is the other side of the “Little Women” coin. While the classic book tells of the March girls growing up in the 1860s without their father, this book tells of their father's life away in the Civil War. There are no pickled limes, debutante balls, or sisterly rivalries. Instead Mr. March's musings as a chaplain in the Union Army bring us to battlefields, horrific hospital scenes, and a plantation where his duty is to educate freed slaves.

Told in the eloquent voice of a bygone era, his narrative draws you back in time into the terrific drama of war, slavery, and mannerisms of the day. He has his own struggles with morality, and later is paralyzed by guilt for things he did and didn't do. There's also an unexpected relationship curve between Mr. March and Marmee that the book “Little Women" gave no hint of.

While “Little Women” seemed to be geared to a general audience, this book seems darker with more realistic images of the Civil War that may not grab the younger crowd. 

It's eye-opening and thought-provoking. I can see why it won the 2006 Pulitzer for fiction.

Just like “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier, the protagonist's first name is never mentioned. At least I didn't see it, and I was looking for it. Am I mistaken?

Here's a line about his feelings for Marmee when they first met. 

“How one longs, when in love, for a glimpse of the beloved. As I walked through the village on my way to the woods, I imagined Miss Day's feet falling on the very same ground that mine trod. I indulged my fancy even so far as to let myself think that the air I inhaled might have contained a particle of her breath. Such is the folly of the young!”


(Read in 2025.)


Happy Reading, 

Annette

 

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