Little Women (or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy) is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 (1868 in literature) and 1869 (1869 in literature). The novel follows the lives of four sisters?Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March?and is loosely based on the authors childhood experiences with her three sisters. The first volume was an immediate commercial and critical success, prompting the composition of the books second volume titled Good Wives, which was successful as well. The publication of the book in the form of a single volume first occurred in 1880. Alcott followed Little Women with two sequels, also featuring the March sisters, Little Men (1871) and Jos Boys (1886). Little Women has been adapted as a play, a musical, an opera, a film, and animation.