Eight cousins and Rose in Bloom depict home making and Motherhood as the highest ideal for Women
A few thoughts on Louisa’s lesser known story…
Amen and AMEN!
This is why I am writing a Musical based on these two stories.
Eight cousins and Rose in Bloom depict home making and Motherhood as the highest ideal. When Mac and Rose decide to adopt an orphan even before they are married, you know that the family they will create will be given tender and dedicated care!
Jenny Hatch
Let’s be honest: if 'Eight Cousins' came out today, it would probably be dismissed as “soft.” It’s got orphans, a kindly uncle, lots of talk about health and morals, and a bunch of rowdy boys getting into mischief. It’s got Sunday-school sweetness and Victorian table manners. Instagram wouldn't know what to do with it.
But read a little deeper—and suddenly, it’s not so quaint. It’s a quiet molotov cocktail in lace gloves.
In a culture where girls are still being told to “smile more,” to shrink themselves, to post filtered selfies and monetize their femininity by age twelve, 'Eight Cousins' feels alarmingly relevant. Rose Campbell, just thirteen, inherits not just a fortune but a future that everyone around her is already trying to manage. They want her pretty, polite, and passive. But Uncle Alec has other plans.
He gives her a spine.
Let that sink in. A male guardian in 1875 refuses to corset her body, teaches her about her own anatomy, feeds her vegetables instead of dainty cakes, and tells her plainly: your worth is not in your looks, but your mind. In a world where we’re still battling for body autonomy and fighting the mental health fallout of beauty culture, that’s not Victorian idealism—it’s pure disruption.
This book casually slams diet culture, the male gaze, fast fashion, toxic masculinity, and the commodification of girlhood—before the telephone was even invented.
And those cousins? They’re not just boy-shaped ornaments. Each one presents a version of masculinity that Rose has to reckon with. She doesn’t choose the loudest, richest, or most charming. She doesn’t choose at all—not yet. She studies. She waits. She learns to value character over charisma. In the age of TikTok thirst traps and alpha-male podcasting bros, that’s revolutionary.
The real genius of 'Eight Cousins' is how it wraps its rebellion in gentleness. There’s no manifesto. No viral call-out. Just a girl, learning to walk into rooms with curiosity instead of apology.
Alcott’s world isn’t without its flaws—race and class remain largely unexamined—but her vision of female empowerment is refreshingly tactile. It’s in posture. In education. In not apologizing for ambition. In learning to say no.
Read it now, and it doesn’t feel like a relic.
It feels like a blueprint we still haven’t fully implemented.
BOOK: https://amzn.to/4iP3W1U
