Louisa May Alcott had enjoyed great success…

Louisa May Alcott had enjoyed great success with the publication by the Roberts Brothers of the first part of Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868), a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts.

Published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, the first volume, Little Women, had been an immediate commercial and critical success, prompting the composition of the book's second volume, entitled Good Wives, which is also successful, with critics and audiences finding the two works suitable for many age groups.

Alcott had begun writing for the Atlantic Monthly in 1860.

When the American Civil War broke out, she had served as a nurse in the Union Hospital at Georgetown, D.C., for six weeks in 1862–1863.

Her letters home had been revised and published in the Commonwealth, a Boston anti-slavery paper, and collected as Hospital Sketches (1863, republished with additions in 1869).

She had spoken out about the mismanagement of hospitals and the indifference and callousness of surgeons she had encountered.

In the mid-1860s, Alcott had written passionate, fiery novels and sensational stories under the nom de plume A. M. Barnard.

Among these are A Long Fatal Love Chase and Pauline's Passion and Punishment.

She also produces wholesome stories for children, and after their positive reception, she does not generally return to creating works for adults.