March
Little Women is the story of a fatherless family at the edge of a great and terrible war. March is the story of their absent, idealistic father who has followed the young men of Concord in pursuit of the dream of a free land, an America untainted by slavery. He writes home to his Little Women and his wife, but naturally he hides the worst terrors of the war and the certainty of his own inadequacy that those terrors inspire.
At once impressive, learned, and pleasant -- even for those (like me) who aren't terribly fond of Alcott.