by L. M. Alcott
First published 2022
Anna Winslow presides over the May Flower Club, where six Boston girls gather weekly to sew and discuss books. As descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers, they meet for mental improvement but struggle with deeper questions of purpose. When Anna suggests reading about working women and poverty, her friends resist. Ella Carver prefers to avoid sad topics she cannot change. Marion Warren admits she feels guilty about her comfortable life and wants to help others, but the poor children and suffering women she reads about in books never cross her path. The girls face a central tension between their privileged circumstances and their growing awareness of social responsibility. Each member grapples with how to translate good intentions into meaningful action, wondering if they have the courage to step beyond their familiar world of embroidery and literature into real service.
Genres: family-life, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, friends-to-lovers
Setting: Boston
Period: 19th-century
26 pages · Hardcover · Lulu.com