I'm not sure how back I actually am. I am pretty tied up here lately but am hoping to post some new stuff soon. The Book Drive is still in full swing. Keep the donations coming. Click the logo on the right to purchase from the wishlist.

There is a particular reason I wanted to post today. Its very circuitous so stay with me.

So, I've told you guys about my love of libraries and all things literary. But, I've never told you about my fascination with Louisa May Alcott. I was 9 when I first read Little Women. I went on to read such classics as Little Men, Jo's Boys, Eight Cousins and so on. I had this habit of discovering an author and then going out of my way to read everything that author has written. Louisa May Alcott was no exception.

When I was 11 I discovered a book that I had never heard of before. It was my first foray into what I always called the "grown up" section of the library. It was a compilation called Behind A Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. It seemed impossible that there were works out there belonging to Louisa that I had never read. So, I immediately checked it out.

It was unlike anything that I'd ever read in my life. It seemed impossible that these dark and violent gothic stories were written by the same woman that wrote Little Women. It was AWESOME. Suddenly, I understood. Jo's "blood and thunder" stories were actually LMA's uncredited thrillers. It made perfect sense.

OK. So, I've established how much I loved LMA and how much her thrillers really entertained me. Now to the actual point. Obviously, I'm not the only person to have read and taken something from these thrillers.

Does anyone remember a little Aaron Spelling show called Melrose Place? Its OK if you don't admit it out loud. But, you know the show. OK there is this scene that even people who have never watched show will remember. The scene where Kimberly Shaw rips off her wig and reveals a hideous scar on her head? Total rip off of LMA.

The first story in LMA's Behind A Mask compilation is titled fittingly enough, Behind A Mask [The full title is Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers Of Louisa May Alcott]. The story focuses on a prim little governess named Jean Muir. But, she is neither prim or a governess. Jean Muir is actually an actress bent on winning the hand of a rich titled gentleman. She is given a position in the Coventry family. They immediately feel sorry for her pitiful circumstances and take her in.

Her first night in the house, after putting a fine performance in which she convinces the family that she hasn't a friend in the world and had to leave her last employer because their son had formed an inappropriate attachment to her, she goes up to her room and shows the readers exactly who she is.

Check this out:

"Still sitting on the floor she unbound and removed the long abundant braids from her head, wiped the pink from her face, took out several pearly teeth, and slipping off her dress appeared herself indeed, a haggard worn, and moody woman of thirty at least [to an 11 year old 30 does seem really old-so I didn't mind the description so much then- now that I'm 32, not so much]. The metamorphosis was wonderful, but the disguise was more in the expression she assumed than in any art of costume or false adornment. Now she was alone, and her mobile features settled into their natural expression, weary, hard, bitter. She had been lovely once, happy innocent, and tender; but nothing of all this remained to the gloomy woman who leaned there brooding over some wrong, or loss, or disappointment which had darkened all her life. For an hour she sat so, sometimes playing absently with the scanty locks that hung about her face, sometimes lifting the glass to her lips as if the fiery draught warmed her cold blood; and once she half uncovered her breast to eye with a terrible glance the scar of a newly healed wound. At last she rose and crept to bed, like one worn out with weariness and mental pain."

OK so the scar was on her breast and not on her head, but Melrose Place totally took the wig thing from LMA. And let me tell you something, no matter how awesomely evil Kimberly Shaw was, she couldn't hold a candle Miss Muir. She captivate both sons (the elder of the two is already engaged to his cousin) and the kindly old uncle. She has her pick of the men in that family. She convinces the entire family that she is 19 year old whose mother was a highborn lady who ran away to marry a Scottish minister and had been disowned by her highborn family.

She positively captivates everyone in her quest to have a title and fortune and be taken care of for the rest of her life. I won't tell you how, but trust me she does everything she sets out to do. She is triumphant as only a true conniver can be. And the family has to accept their behavior and her permanance.

If you have ever thought that LMA was a writer of sweet sentimental children's stories, I recommend you take another look.

I know this whole post was totally random, but I just reread the compilation and happened to remember Melrose Place when I came to part I quoted above.