Little Women (or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy) is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). Written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two parts in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters-Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March-and is loosely based on the author"s childhood experiences with her three sisters. The first part of the book was an immediate commercial and critical success, prompting the composition of the book"s second part, also a huge success. Both parts were first published as a single volume in 1880. Alcott followed Little Women with two sequels reprising the March sisters, Little Men (1871) and Jo"s Boys (1886). Little Women has been adapted to play, musical, opera, film, and animated feature.