13 h 31 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 332 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 332 pagesAbout this book
What does it cost a woman to earn her own bread—and choose her own life?
Christie Devon leaves a New England farm with a plain wish: honest work, her own money, and a purpose she can call hers. In Louisa May Alcott’s Work: A Story of Experience, service, the theatre, and other jobs test that wish against the narrow choices open to women.
Set in the years around the American Civil War, the novel follows Christie through friendships and hard lessons. Rachel, a woman society treats harshly, tests her compassion. Mr. Power connects faith with useful labor, while gardener David Sterling shares her respect for honest work. Each encounter deepens the question of what makes a life worthwhile.
What you’ll discover
- A heroine who tries Follow Christie as she trades the safety of home for the chance to choose.
- The cost of independence See what service and other jobs demand of a woman determined to support herself.
- Friendship beyond social judgment Meet Rachel, whose friendship asks Christie to put loyalty and compassion into practice.
- Work beyond a wage Explore the restless search for purpose that makes earning a living more than a practical task.
- Warmth amid hard lessons Find Alcott’s humor and warmth in episodes shaped by her own experience of working life.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who love Alcott's warmth, anyone curious about women's work and independence in the 1800s, and people who like a heroine who learns by trying. If you want a fast plot with a single mystery, you may find its episodes loose.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Christie decides to make her own way
- Service teaches her what work costs
- The stage tempts her with another life
- Friendship crosses the lines of class
- What the story says about work and women
- How Alcott tells it, and what to watch
Who’s who
- Christie DevonA spirited young woman from a farm who leaves home to earn her living and find a purpose of her own.
- Uncle EnosChristie's uncle, a plain farmer who worries about her plans and speaks for the safe, settled way of life.
- Aunt BetseyChristie's aunt, who is warm and kind, and who understands her wish to leave, even though she is sad to see her go.
- RachelA woman treated harshly by society, who becomes Christie's friend and tests her loyalty and compassion.
- Mr. PowerA minister whose talk of faith and useful labor gives Christie's restless wish for purpose a clearer shape.
- David SterlingA gardener of quiet, steady character who shares Christie's love of honest work and living close to the earth.
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Work: A Story of Experience
by Louisa May Alcott· 1873
A young woman seeks independence through work and chosen purpose.
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Language: English
“Miss Alcott inherited a name which her father's genius had made known on both sides of the sea, before her own made it famous in a hundred thousand households.”
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
Christie decides to make her own way
The story opens on a farm, where Christie Devon lives with her uncle Enos and her aunt Betsey. She is an orphan, and she has been raised in a house where duty is plain and talk of dreams is not welcome. Christie is restless. She feels that her life is being decided for her by people who mean well but do not see who she is.
One day she announces that she is leaving. She does not storm off in anger, and she does not run toward a rich husband. She says she wants to work, to be useful and to be free. Her relatives find this strange and a little shocking, since a young woman of her time was expected to stay put until marriage.
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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.
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Questions about Work: A Story of Experience
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What is Work by Louisa May Alcott about?
It follows Christie Devon, a young woman who leaves her uncle's farm to earn her own living. She tries several jobs and learns what work, friendship and independence cost and give.
Is Work by Louisa May Alcott based on a true story?
It is a novel, but it draws closely on Alcott's own life. She had worked as a servant, teacher, seamstress and actress, and the book was published in 1873.
Who is Christie Devon in Work?
Christie Devon is the heroine. She is an orphan raised on a farm who decides to leave home and find honest work, a place in the world and a purpose she has chosen.
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