This was a fascinating take on Mr. March -- the altruistic father of the Little Women so many of us knew and loved. Brooks has taken this rather two-dimensional character made him come alive, doubts, warts, and all. She does this by focusing on his time as a chaplain with the Union Army -- as you may recall, he was away for the year that Little Women covered, returning home in the last chapter.
LW fans will enjoy the many references to the family life that are familiar from the original book. But one needn't be a fan of Little Women to enjoy the excellent story-telling here and the picture of a man of high principles faced with the utter awfulness of slavery and war.
And toward the end of the book, Brooks shifts point of view from March to Marmee, his saintly wife, and we discover that there is more to her than the motherly platitudes of Little Women. There's a good review HERE -- though it gives away more than I'm willing too (It also gets one point -- the lock of hair - wrong.)
