Alcott wrote Little Women during 1867 and early 1868, writing furiously for two and a half months. She drew heavily on her experiences growing up with her three sisters in Boston, Massachusetts and Concord, Massachusetts. The novel was first published on September 30, 1868, and became an overnight success, selling over 2,000 copies immediately. The critical reception was also overwhelmingly positive; critics soon began calling the new novel a classic. Readers clamoured for a second volume, and Alcott received many letters asking for a sequel.

In response to this demand, Alcott wrote a second part which was published in 1869. The second part picks up three years after the events in the last chapter of the first part ("Aunt March Settles The Question"). Both parts were called Little Women or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. In 1880, the two parts were combined into one volume, and have been published as such in the United States ever since. In the UK, the second part was published under the title Good Wives, though Alcott had no part in the decision. Alcott followed Little Women at intervals with two novels that reprised the March sisters, Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886) which followed the lives of the girls' children.