The Spring Girls

December 11, 2017
Todd’s contemporary update of Little Women is an entertaining take on Louisa May Alcott’s beloved original. Meredith Spring lives on the Fort Cyprus military base in New Orleans with her four daughters: 19-year-old Meg, who dreams of marrying an army officer and escaping her less-than-glitzy home life; homeschooled Beth, who does her best to help her mother run the household; the passionate 16-year-old Jo, who has no interest in marriage and longs to travel the world and write searing pieces on social justice; and sweet-natured 12-year-old Amy, who looks to her sisters to shape the woman she will become. Their father, Frank, an army officer, is overseas for a year in Mosul, and a distinct pall hangs over the home as they worry for his safety; the girls are also concerned their mother may be falling apart under the strain of his absence. Told in alternating chapters by Meg, Jo, Beth, and Meredith, this enjoyable novel explores the bonds of sisterhood, first love, and teenage angst, and while it echoes Alcott’s novel, it provides a refreshing 21st-century update.

This modern-day retelling of the classic novel LITTLE WOMEN is told from the viewpoints of the mother, performed by Cassandra Campbell, and the three older sisters, performed by Joy Osmanski, Erin Mallon, and Madeleine Maby. Living in New Orleans on an army base, the girls watch their money and find a little romance while their father is on a tour of duty overseas. Narrators Osmanski, Mallon, and Maby nicely convey the siblings and relationship drama that makes up the bulk of the plot. One weakness, however, is the voice of Laurie, which is stilted and given an indistinguishable accent. The audiobook itself lacks the charm of the original story, and listeners will find it difficult to connect Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth Spring with the March girls. C.B.L. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine