to think that Amy March is one of the most irritating literary characters ever.

I love DLL but also its sequel, Dear Enemy.

And is anyone else a Mrs Braddon fan ? Lady Audley's secret etc? All free on ebooks.

King, where, where (desperate)?

And how can I get hold of cheap copies of the Antonia Forests? Gave mine away but never had all of them.

Was it

Germans on the rampage
Russians on the Spree
Sugar in the petrol
And up goes she?

And the cocoa, was it weak/strong/ navy or ordinary/ strong/ navy?

Squoosh, you're right - she doesn't marry him, that subplot just fades away when Aunt Miranda dies and leaves Rebecca the house.

What about Daddy Long Legs? I longed to be an American College Girl.

i love the Katie books. What Katie did next is my favourite I think. The bit when the wee girl is sick in Rome is terrible.

Oh she does, and he makes her give up teaching. But then so does Archie make Phoebe give up singing in Rose in Bloom.

I didn't like Rebecca and her 'Mr Aladdin'.

Chaime, I've always assumed so. And that the author got bored with her and decided Clover was a more interesting person.

Got off train, dealt with bed time, relaxing and now seeker has me in floods again.

Walter's death pretty affecting in Rilla. And Charlie's in the sequel to Rose.
Those death bed scenes...

Mind you. I never cry at Dickens's. Jo, Dora, even Little Nell, not a chance. Let alone Steerforth.

Funniky enough, I used Katie as a sort of model when I was bed bound for months. I brought the bed downstairs and made the room the centre of operations. V useful to have that inspiration.
And I knitted like Pollyanna.

In Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, dies she ever marry Alan Ladd?

I always wanted to be Amy driving her '2 spirited ponies' along the Italian esplanade.

Do you remember the scene in 'When Harry Met Sally' when they argue about the ending of Casablanca. I think Little Women is a bit the same, as a child/teenager you want Jo to love Laurie and can't understand what she sees in that boring old man and then when you grow up you suddenly realise what the attraction was.

As far as Wilkie Collins goes, absolutely the best female characters ever. They are all so wonderful and complex and interesting. Can't believe his books aren't more popular than they are.

Whenever I think about Amy I think about the pickled limes storyline!

Was Katy infertile because of her swing accident, do you think?

Agreed that Amy March was v annoying. All the way through. Probably even worse as she got older.

Mary Musgrove needed a good literary slap.

As did Elizabeth "Goody Two-Shoes" Wakefield from Sweet Valley High.

Though you do feel for poor Rose when she realises that she has no artistic gifts - she has to be content with spending her money to help others!

Tell me more about Elsie being the old word for seal!! Is that connected with the word 'selkie' - a sort of half person/half seal in mythology?

Oh yes, I love Uncle Alec in Eight Cousins and his sensible views on education. Though I wish Rose had studied for a career rather than just swanning round being rich and charming.

wearing corsets must have been terrible

Lilly Paige was a right bitch. I was SO glad when Katy stole her bloke.

I was sad Katy didn't have children by the end of In The High Valley though.

neo - oooh, yes, I love that bit.

I love the way you get the impression they were doing (basically) academic mansplaining on Jo and showing off.

Eight Cousins is another book where LMA deals with education of girls. First thing is to stop 10 year girls drinking coffee and wearing corsets!

I'm reading What Katy Did to DD and India Rubber is one of the many things I've had to explain along with sassafras tea and alpaca travelling dresses.

John Brooke's death always has me in floods, I think he comes across better in death (a poor man but a good man) than in life (a pompous git) :)

Oh yes, I love the scene where the bonkers fans appear and want to see the desk where the great works are written. Clearly drawn from life!

Plumstead is drawn from the (humiliatingly unsuccessful) educational ventures of Louisa's father, Bronson, who was away with the fairies a lot of the time but had ideas about educating children that were decades ahead of his time (he got in trouble for having a black child in his class and briefly explaining where babies came from). Louisa adored him and I think wanted to show his theories being vindicated.

Es, but she was quite disdainful about Little Women, it was her publisher's idea, and she was like FFS, o.k. Then.

Then that became her biggest succcess! To her chagrin

I think Jo finds the passion after turning to writing again to make money. LMA clearly links the passion for writing with her eventual massive success. She gets very famous, doesn't she? With people collecting crickets from her lawn as keepsakes