Louisa May Alcott is red hot, with a movie out and two book deals in the works. Recently, Random House paid seven figures for a newly discovered Alcott manuscript, “A Long Fatal Love Chase,” a Gothic bodice-ripper a world apart from her children’s classic, “Little Women.”
Now, William Morrow is reissuing its 1975 book, “Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott.” The impoverished Alcott wrote a series of what she called “blood and thunder tales,” steamy page-turners published anonymously that supported her for years. The tales were lost till the 1970s.
The current film “Little Women” did $5.4 million at the box office its first week, placing it right behind “Richie Rich.” Poor Louisa, born in the wrong era, like pauper Van Gogh, whose paintings now bring $50 million or more.
