Interview with Liz Rosenberg - author of Scribbles, Sorrows, and Russet Leather Boots.

Interview with Liz Rosenberg

Author of Scribbles, Sorrows, and Russet Leather Boots.

See my review here.
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Given the volume of information available on Louisa May Alcott, why did you decide to write a book about her life?

Little Women has always appealed to teenagers– after all, it’s about 4 teenaged sisters. So while there are wonderful children’s and adult biographies, there was nothing for the young adult readers– which was her original audience.

Provide one or two facts that surprised you about Louisa that you may not have known before researching for Scribbles, Sorrows, and Russet Leather Boots?

I never fully understood the degree of the Alcott family’s poverty– surviving on bread and water or just apples. I also didn’t realize the degree of Louisa’s generosity when she finally had some money. She supported not just family and friends which she did abundantly, but gave to countless causes and charities, even to strangers whose struggles moved her.

I also never had known she became a mother in her middle age, when her sister died young and bequeathed the child to her. So there she was, a “spinster” as she liked to call herself– the single mother of an active toddler.

How much of Louisa’s life was poured into Little Women and other fictional stories she wrote?

A lot of her own life filtered through, though she transformed all of it. She was commissioned to write a book “for girls” and said in despair that the only girls she knew well were her sisters. Later, when it became such a surprise success she said simply, “we lived it.” 

Although from the time she was fifteen, Louisa wanted to be famous and have money, it has been said she never was comfortable being at the centre of attention. Once her book Little Women took off, how did this success affect her and her family?

She yearned for success and fame, but when it came she ran like the wind from it. Literally, she would run out the back door into the woods. Once she put on a fake accent and pretended to be her own housemaid claiming that Miz Alcott was not home. 

The family lost so much privacy, and Louisa worried that she had disturbed the peace of the family. Actually, I think some of them rather liked it– Bronson, her father, especially. 

Louisa wrote a number of books, including sequels to Little Women. But she followed a certain pattern in the release of her books: a serious one followed by a lighter one. Why do you think she wrote in this way?

I don’t think she did any of that deliberately. Maybe it was a question of finding balance, since she had so many sides to her– she wrote creepy blood-curdling romances, and light-hearted stories, and literary fiction, mysteries, and more serious stories for young people. And maybe sometimes she just wanted a change. I suspect each kind of writing fed her in some way. 

One topic that cannot be ignored is Louisa’s battle with her health. From her writings she came across as a positive force and extremely resilient. The quotes below show us that she tried to rise above those afflictions and obstacles or at least she may have seen them as part of the big tapestry of her life—woven into her fabric as a ‘C’est la vie’ thread. From your studies, would you say these two quotes below truly represent her attitudes and practices in real life? She had many physical trials, and family and public responsibilities that could have easily weighed her down emotionally/mentally.

      “Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.” 
“We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing.”

Louisa had great courage, great hope and resilience. That helped her survive her chaotic childhood, emerging from it so sane and loving. Her story is a beautiful one on its own. 

When she was sick she tried many so-called cures, many experimental techniques. Her family used herbal remedies and homeopathic remedies for most of their illnesses. But in the end there was no cure for her mercury poisoning– only palliative care. 

Her last words were to her doctor, “Then it isn’t meningitis?” She was always so curious, looking for answers big and small right to the end. 

If you had the opportunity to go back in time and meet Louisa May Alcott, what two questions would you ask her and why?

Question one: If you could have changed one thing about your life and writing, what might it have been? 

Question two: Did you ever have that great love in your life– and if so, why didn’t you pursue it?

But in real life, Louisa was formidable. I am sure I’d never have had the courage to ask either one. I’d have been happy just to have had a quiet chat about anything.

Please share a bit about your personal writing journey—including your literary background. What kind of books do you enjoy writing the most and why?

I always loved to read and out of that came a natural desire to write. I started young. There is no one favourite genre– stories take the form they need to take. The only genre I could never write, or ever want to write, is horror. 

A great relief and freedom came the day I realized I need only write the kinds of books I would most want to read. 

Do you have any new literary projects in the works and can you share a little about them?

I work on several things at the same time– though not all at once, of course, and not in any organized order. So, at the moment I am working on: poems, a children’s novel, a play, memoir, a new adult novel, and just finished a new picture book, “Giant Baby” which will be out from Marble Press next year. 

 Thanks Liz for being my guest author and sharing your expertise on Louisa May Alcott.

Liz is an American poet, best-selling novelist, children's book author, book reviewer and professor of English. She is also the author of the biography House of Dreams: The Life of L. M. Montgomery. Her books have received numerous awards, including the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and the Paterson Prize. Liz Rosenberg lives in Binghamton, New York. See and purchase her numerous books available on Amazon.