Not-So-Little Women

I admit it: I had never read “Little Women” (nor even seen any movie versions). However, it has been pointed out to me that my two Women in the Sun novels have parallels to Alcott’s book, so I decided to read through it.

And, yes, I can see it, most notably in my Joey character. Her name is even similar to Jo! That, I assure you, was totally unintentional. I in fact named her for a real-life Joey I know. She is tall and assertive and a bit ‘boyish’ but that is about as far as it goes. Joey is also Italian and Catholic and more prone to sarcasm than to Jo’s sort of New England moralizing.

The ‘sisters’ here are by choice, not blood. Three best friends all through school and now facing the adult world. My actual fear when I began was that my story might be compared to quite different books, set in a different Naples (Italy, that is, not Florida), the novels of Elena Ferrante. I steered as far from that as possible.

As Jo, my Joey has thoughts of being a writer. Unlike Jo, she is not a thinly-disguised version of the author. Even more so in that ‘Sienna Santerre’ is a pen name and, in a sense, another character I have created. So maybe Joey is Sienna? I don’t know. I’m as confused as you, now.