I have never actually read or watched Little Women, but I know everything that happened through the cultural consciousness. That being said, I really enjoyed this twist in Beth is Dead. This was a great portrayal of sisterhood, mystery, and love.
Summary
When Beth March is found dead in the woods on New Year’s Day, her sisters vow to uncover her murderer.
Suspects abound. There’s the neighbor who has feelings for not one but two of the girls. Meg’s manipulative best friend. Amy’s flirtatious mentor. And Beth’s lionhearted first love. But it doesn’t take the surviving sisters much digging to uncover motives each one of the March girls had for doing the unthinkable.
Jo, an aspiring author with a huge following on social media, would do anything to hook readers. Would she kill her sister for the story? Amy dreams of studying art in Europe, but she’ll need money from her aunt—money that’s always been earmarked for Beth. And Meg wouldn’t dream of hurting her sister…but her boyfriend might have, and she’ll protect him at all costs.
Despite the growing suspicion within the family, it’s hard to know for sure if the crime was committed by someone close to home. After all, the March sisters were dragged into the spotlight months ago when their father published a controversial bestseller about his own daughters. Beth could have been killed by anyone.
Beth’s perspective told in flashback unfolds next to Meg, Jo, and Amy’s increasingly fraught investigation as the tragedy threatens to rip the Marches apart.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Beth is Dead is rooted in sisters. What other retelling could there be of Little Women which did not center their love, resentment, and mistakes. With POV chapters of each of the sisters in the past and now, Beth is Dead is a twisty re-imagining. These relationships are full of tangled insults and relationships that will never be fully unwoven. It’s about sisters and something indescribable. The tension between the past and the futures, and the secrets each sister is holding, is delightful and rich. There are secrets which look worse in the light of day which were whispers in shadows and now shouts in the daylight.
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Secrets we hide from everyone else. Beth is Dead manages to be character focused with a steady thrum of action. It’s a tangled web of resentment, anger, guilt and love. Four sisters who want to be seen, to find their place in the world, and to know that whatever they say, their sisters will be there tomorrow. But what they don’t expect is their secrets threaten and the lies they’ve told come back. I deeply appreciated this re-telling and the ways in which it sticks to the foundations of the past while also bringing this new spirit. The pressure of the illusions we put on, the people we pretend to be, even to those we love the best.
Find Beth is Dead on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.