Until recently I hadn’t realised what a diverse writer Louisa May Alcott was. Like many people I read Little Women and its sequels as a child – and Little Women is still one of my favourite books – but I never thought about exploring her other fiction until now. A Long Fatal Love Chase is a suspense novel, written in 1866 but never published in Alcott’s lifetime (it was eventually published in 1995). I didn’t even know Alcott had written books like this, so I’m glad I have now been enlightened!
Rosamond Vivian, eighteen years old at the beginning of the novel, lives with her cold-hearted grandfather in a mansion on a remote island. Bored and lonely, feeling unloved by her grandfather, Rosamond longs for some adventure in her life. When she loses her temper with the old man one day and tells him she would gladly sell her soul to Satan for a year of freedom, it seems that her wishes are about to come true.
That same day, Phillip Tempest arrives (during a storm, of course) to do some business with Rosamond’s grandfather. Tempest, who we are told resembles a painting of the demon Mephistopheles, is handsome, charming and surrounded by an aura of mystery. Rosamond is instantly attracted to him and soon Tempest sweeps her away with him on his yacht. But Rosamond’s happiness doesn’t last for long. When she makes some shocking discoveries about Tempest she decides to leave him…but it seems Tempest is not prepared to let her go.
The rest of the story is, as the title suggests, a long and fatal love chase in which Rosamond flees across France, Germany and Italy from chateau to convent to asylum with Tempest never far behind. The tension builds and builds; almost every chapter ends on a cliffhanger as Rosamond finds herself in danger yet again. With Tempest growing more and more obsessed and increasingly devious in the methods he uses to track down her hiding places, will Rosamond ever be able to escape?
As you’ll be able to tell by now, A Long Fatal Love Chase is not like Little Women at all, but that shouldn’t be a problem as long as you’re not expecting it to be (which I wasn’t). Just be aware of its sensational nature and be prepared for something over-the-top and melodramatic. There’s a lot of symbolism too and as well as the Mephistopheles reference I mentioned earlier there are many other allusions to mythology, art and literature, particularly Shakespeare – with a character whose name is Tempest, I suppose that’s not surprising!
If you have read Little Women and remember Jo writing her novels, it’s easy to imagine Jo sitting in her garret writing a story like this and persuading Meg, Beth and Amy to act out some of the scenes with her! It wasn’t the best book of this type that I’ve read, especially in comparison to the more complex sensation novels written during the same period by Wilkie Collins, Mary Elizabeth Braddon or Ellen Wood, but it was still exciting, entertaining and also quite daring for its time, with its themes of obsession and stalking. It has a lot in common with early gothic novels by authors such as Ann Radcliffe too, though with the advantages that this one is easier to read and Rosamond is a stronger character than the heroines of Radcliffe’s books.
Apart from Rosamond, the other characters in the novel are less well-developed and tend to represent either the good side of human nature (the priest who becomes Rosamond’s friend and confidant) or the bad (Tempest). From the moment he first appears in the novel, Tempest is such an obvious villain and there are so many hints and so much foreshadowing, that it’s easy for us, as the reader, to know that he is not to be trusted. Rosamond is a young, naïve girl (though not without a lot of courage and spirit) being taken advantage of by a ruthless and manipulative older man, and it takes her a lot longer than it takes the reader to discover that something is not right. But despite so much of the plot being predictable, some of the twists did still take me by surprise and the ending was not quite what I had expected either!
If you’ve enjoyed this book, I would also recommend Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart – although they were written almost 100 years apart I thought they had a very similar feel.
She Reads Novels 
This is the only one of her gothics that I’ve read, and I did enjoy it. Like you, I could easily imagine Jo scribbling away at this – it gave me a better sense of the stories that she was writing for the papers, before Prof. Bhaer intervened. I have another one, The Inheritance, on the TBR stacks.
I’ll have to look out for The Inheritance. I would like to read some of her gothic novels after enjoying this one.
I read this one years ago, and it was fun to imagine Jo writing this. But I’m glad Alcott turned to less sensational writing. I don’t think this is where her gifts really lay.
No, I don’t think so either. I did enjoy this book but I can see why it’s not a true classic like Little Women.
I loved Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, so this sounds great. 🙂
I loved The Mysteries of Udolpho too. This book is less ‘gothic’ but does have a lot of the same elements.
I need to get around to reading this (as well as Mary Stewart!). It’s difficult to imagine Alcott doing sensation just from Little Women, but I’m really curious to find out what it’s like.
I had no idea she wrote sensation novels until recently and I found it hard to imagine too. I’d love to know what you think of this book if you get around to reading it – and Mary Stewart too!
Isn’t this the kind of book Alcott always wanted to write, and only turned to writing Little Women to make money? I could be wrong though….
I think this sounds like a lot of fun, I’ve added it to my wishlist.
I don’t know much about Alcott, but yes, I think I read somewhere that she didn’t really enjoy writing Little Women.
I had never heard of this novel, but the annotated Little Women arrives this week and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
I hope you enjoy it! It’s been such a long time since I last read Little Women – I really want to re-read it soon.
You make this book sound very tempting. I will add it to my list.
That’s great – I hope you like it!
I really want to read this but I’m not sure I shouldn’t read Little Women first (that said I think I read the latter as a child). It sounds absolutely brilliant, somewhat surprising it took so long to be published, even if the premise is so different to Little Women.
I think the manuscript was only rediscovered in the 1990s, which would explain the long delay. It’s a shame she couldn’t get it published at the time it was written, though.
I read Little Women earlier this year and adored it! I never knew Alcott had wrote any other sort of novel, sounds exciting though may have to give it a go.
I think a lot of people probably don’t realise she wrote this type of book – I certainly didn’t until just recently. I hope you decide to give it a try!
No need for the warning about the melodrama, with names like Rosamond and Tempest I think most readers would get it 😛
Yes, the names should give readers an idea of what to expect!
If you want a further surprise, read some of the short stories she wrote under the pen name of A. M. Barnard. She wrote these to earn money just like Jo does in LW and they were definitely of the sensation variety. Her secret life wasn’t discovered until relatively recently when two academics who were researching Alcott came across a box she’d left behind and discovered manuscripts in the name of Barnard. The most interesting story for me is Behind a Mask
Thanks for the information – I’m definitely interested in reading those as I love sensation fiction.
You should try to read A modern Mephistopheles: it is quite well developed. I keep on passing on A long fatal love chase because of the mixed reviews… maybe, sometime, I will find the inspiration to read it.
I really enjoyed it but I can see why it wouldn’t appeal to everyone. I hope you like it as much as I did if you do decide to read it.
I have to say I didn’t know this book, and sounds interesting, so I think I’ll put it in the list.
As everybody, I’ve read only Little women when I was little, and I didn’t know the rest of the novels of Alcott
I’m glad you’re adding it to your list, Isi. I hope you enjoy it.
This sounds intriguing. I am just getting to know Alcott and am shocked at how much she wrote. I like your review in which you mention Jo writing something like this being acted out by her sisters. I so agree!
I was surprised to find that Alcott had written so many books too. I only used to associate her with the Little Women novels and had no idea she wrote books like this one!
Thank you for this review! I finished this book recently, and some members of our classics book club are gathering tomorrow to talk about it. As we have recently finished Lady Audley’s Secret, Fatal Love Chase will be fun to compare.