One of my favourite books. Alcott has caught a particular breathless, taut style in this very adult, sensual story of obsession and deceit. It's a very surprising read if you think Alcott is just a children's writer. If you enjoy 19th century novels (she wrote it in 1866), then ignore the rather silly names of the characters and read it. From the blurb:

"I often feel as if I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom."

Rosamund Vixen has been brought up as a recluse on a remote island off the English coast. When Phillip Tempest - charming, devastatingly handsome and almost twice Rosamund's age - mysteriously appears one stormy night he finds a peach ripe for the plucking. "I'm willing to pay for my pleasure if necessary," Rosamund asserts boldly, but nothing can prepare her for the life that Phillip Tempest will lure her into sharing with him.

Instead of the freedom she craves, Rosamund finds herself caught up in the strange past of her new husband. Terrified of him and all he represents, she flees, and so the chase begins - from Parisian garret to mental asylum, from convent to chateau. But Phillip Tempest has never allowed anything to escape him, and Rosamund has become his obsession.

A compulsive tale of love, desire and deceit, A Long Fatal Love Chase was considered too sensational to be published during Louisa May Alcott's lifetime. Its discovery after more than a century marks a new page in literary history.