According to Wikipedia: books, like this one, that Louisa May Alcott wrote under the pseudonym A.M . Barnard are "passionate, fiery novels and stories"... These works ... were known in the Victorian Era as "potboilers" or "blood-and-thunder tales." Her character Jo in "Little Women" publishes several such stories but ultimately rejects them after being told that they are "dangerous for little minds." Their protagonists are willful and relentless in their pursuit of their own aims, which often include revenge on those who have humiliated or thwarted them. These works achieved immediate commercial success and remain highly readable today." According to Wikipedia: "Louisa May Alcott (1832 – 1888) was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women, published in 1868. This novel is loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters."