Behind a Mask Paperback by Louisa May Alcott

Product Details

• Publisher: Vintage Classics (2026-08-25)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 160 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781529981360
• Item Weight: 130.41 grams
• Dimensions: 19.71 x 13.03 x 1.09 cm

This is Alcott as you have never seen her before - gothic, and gloriously unsettling

A young governess arrives at a grand country house and quickly wins the confidence of its family. Humble and modest, Jean Muir seems to embody every virtue expected of her. But beneath her meticulous performance lies a will sharpened by resentment, ambition and rage.

BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

About the Author

Louisa May Alcott was born on 29 November 1832 in Pennsylvania. Her father was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau. Alcott started selling stories in order to help provide financial support for her family. Her first book was Flower Fables (1854). She worked as a nurse during the American Civil War and in 1863 she published Hospital Sketches, which was based on her experiences. Little Women was published in 1868 and was based on her life growing up with her three sisters. She followed it with three sequels, Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886) and she also wrote other books for both children and adults. Louisa May Alcott was an abolitionist and a campaigner for women's rights. She died on 6 March 1888.