Little Women is the delightful story of the four March girls and their approach towards womanhood.

Meg, the eldest and most beautiful, shrugs off her vanity and social ambition, discovering fulfilment in romantic love. Boyish Jo on the other hand, with her contempt of all 'lovering', turns impetuously towards writing for solace. Gentle Beth rejects worldly interests, preferring to devote her life to her family, to the joy of music and to timidly aiding all who suffer in life. Amy, the youngest and most imperfect of the March girls, continually tries to overcome her selfishness and girlish pretensions, though she has a hard task before her.

The progress of these four 'little women' is narrated along the lines of Bunyan's pilgrim, and we are shown how - encountering struggles and learning important lessons along the way - each one attains her own Celestial City.

Why do people love Jo so much? She's a brat, and pretty dumb to have let the man she loved get away like that! Ok, so I've read this before, and have fairly strong feelings about it. Still, it's part of the BBC Big Read, and it'll be good to have at least one book I can have a huge bitch about!