9 h 44 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 44 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the heart you trust is also the thing that leads you astray?
Sylvia Yule feels deeply, loves nature, and wants to live by her own sense of truth. But her feelings shift, and love asks for choices that moods alone cannot settle. In Louisa May Alcott's Moods, the quiet world of nineteenth-century New England holds firm expectations about promises, duty, and proper conduct.
Geoffrey Moor offers a gentler kind of love than Sylvia first imagines. Adam Warwick's bold, forceful character leaves a deep mark on her. Meanwhile, Faith Dane offers an independent example of how a woman may live. Around these people, Alcott explores a difficult question: how can Sylvia honor herself without forgetting what she owes to others?
What you’ll discover
- A heart in motion Follow Sylvia as her changing feelings make the question of trusting herself urgent and personal.
- Two kinds of love Meet Geoffrey Moor and Adam Warwick, whose contrasting natures shape Sylvia's choices.
- The weight of promises Explore what happens when personal longing pulls against duty and responsibility to others.
- An independent woman's example Discover Faith Dane, whose independent spirit offers Sylvia another way to imagine a woman's life.
- Alcott before Little Women Encounter a young writer testing serious questions about conscience, freedom, and self-reliance.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Alcott's warm voice, nineteenth century romance, and stories about choosing between love and duty will find a heroine full of contradictions.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Pity turns freedom into a promise
- Sylvia longs for a steady friend
- The river opens a happier world
- Danger brings Sylvia and Warwick closer
- Lasting love offers a new measure
- Friendship cannot take the place of love
- Hurt makes comfort look like love
- Sylvia's moods have deeper roots
- Promises test the truth of feeling
Who’s who
- Sylvia YuleA moody, warm hearted young woman of eighteen who longs for a true friend and has no idea what love will ask of her.
- Adam WarwickA tall, blunt, self-reliant wanderer who values truth and freedom above comfort, and who has made a hard promise he means to keep.
- Geoffrey MoorA gentle, generous neighbor and poet who has come home after caring for his dying sister and hopes to find a wife.
- OttilaA beautiful, ambitious woman who wants Warwick and is used to winning whatever she desires.
- PrueSylvia's anxious, kindhearted older sister, who manages the house and cures every trouble with chamomile and good advice.
- Mark YuleSylvia's brother, a painter and dreamer, who loves his sister's pranks and longs to win the hand of Jessie Hope.
- Faith DaneMoor's wise and quiet cousin, who understands more about other people's hearts than she says aloud.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Moods in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Moods
by Louisa May Alcott · 1864
A restless girl in gray and green travels up a river with her brother and two men who change her life.
Medium level5–10 hours to read16 languages
Learn a language with medium classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
Can a promise made in haste be kept without ruining a life? In a hot, shadowy room in a southern city, Adam Warwick tells the woman he is engaged to that he must have his freedom back.
Moods at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 45 min4 h 35 min fast, 6 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 82,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1864by Louisa May Alcott
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Warwick breaks his engagement and sets one year
The novel opens in a dim room in a hot southern city, where Adam Warwick stands at a window and longs for a breeze from home. Ottila, his fiancée of a month, walks in with a lamp and a confident smile. She asks whom he was thinking of. He answers with one word, self-respect, and asks for his freedom back.
He tells her she courted him by hiding her real self. Ottila says it is too late, and he replies that it is never too late to refuse a lifelong lie.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1864
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Alcott, Louisa May. Moods. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/moods.
Alcott, L. M. (2026). Moods. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/moods (Original work published 1864)
Alcott, Louisa May. Moods. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/moods.
@book{alcott2026moods,
author = {Alcott, Louisa May},
title = {Moods},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/moods},
note = {First published 1864}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Moods
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Moods by Louisa May Alcott about?
It follows Sylvia Yule, a changeable young woman, and two friends, the stern Adam Warwick and the gentle Geoffrey Moor. It explores love, friendship, and duty, and asks what happens when feelings clash with promises.
Who are Adam Warwick and Geoffrey Moor?
Warwick is a blunt, independent wanderer who values truth above comfort. Moor is a kind, poetic neighbor who has returned home. Both become close friends of Sylvia, and both come to care for her in different ways.
What does the title Moods mean?
It comes from an Emerson line in the epigraph, saying life is a series of moods that color how we see the world. Sylvia's shifting feelings and her search for steadiness give the idea a human face.
The author
Louisa May Alcott
1832–1888 · American novelist
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) was an American novelist born in Germantown, Pennsylvania. She lived mainly in Massachusetts, including Boston and Concord. She wrote Little Women, published in two parts in 1868 and 1869, An Old-Fashioned Girl in 1870, Little Men in 1871, and Work: A Story of Experience in 1873.
More by Louisa May Alcott
See all their booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
