"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
"It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.
"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff.
"We've got Father and Mother, and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner."

In one of literature's best-known opening paragraphs, Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) introduces us to the girls of the March family, growing up in New England against the background of the American Civil War. Generations of readers have laughed and cried as we follow their journey from girlhood to womanhood, via sisterly squabbles and fashion disasters, setbacks and successes in love and careers, tragedy and happiness.

Louisa May Alcott's much-loved and largely autobiographical family saga has often been adapted for the screen, most recently in Gillian Armstrong's 1994 version with Winona Ryder as the headstrong Jo and Susan Sarandon as Marmee