Unfinished story by Little Women author Louisa May Alcott published for first time

Aunt Nellie’s Diary, from author’s ‘sentimental period’, features in Strand magazine with a call for writers to complete it

An early story from a young Louisa May Alcott, in which the Little Women author writes of two teenage girls vying for the attentions of a handsome young man, has been published for the first time.

Written in 1849, when Alcott was 17, Aunt Nellie’s Diary is told from the perspective of a 40-year-old woman bringing up her orphaned niece, Annie. When Annie’s friend Isabel comes to stay, Nellie becomes concerned that the girl’s attractive exterior hides a “darkness within”.

Related: Being Jo March: Little Women finally has an ending grown women deserve | Josephine Tovey

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