March (2005) is a novel by Geraldine Brooks. It is a novel that retells Louisa May Alcott‘s novel Little Women from the point of view of Alcott’s protagonists’ absent father. Brooks has inserted the novel into the classic tale, revealing the events surrounding March’s absence during the American Civil War in 1862. The novel won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Inspiration: In an NPR interview by Melissa Block, Brooks reveals that a more physical connection to the Civil War was her inspiration for the novel. “The author lives near the site of [The Battle of Ball’s Bluff] where, on Oct. 21, 1861, on a steep bluff overlooking the Potomac River, Union forces were flanked and routed by Confederate troops. The discovery of a Union soldier’s belt buckle in the Civil War-era courtyard of Brooks’ home provided the germ of the novel.”
Source: Wikipedia
