Release Date: Tuesday, August 18th, 2026
Get your copy by clicking on simonandschuster.com
Get your copy by clicking on simonandschuster.com
Synopsis of "Little Monsters" by Maire Roche:
In this modern supernatural middle grade retelling of the beloved classic Little Women, the March sisters are hiding a monstrous secret—and Meg will do anything to keep it that way. Especially now that another beast is lurking in the woods, threatening to expose them all.
Meg March and her three sisters are monsters. Really. Meg has teeth that are just a little too sharp. Jo grows fur beneath the full moon. Beth can fly through the night on wings she can barely conceal beneath her sweaters. And Amy? She’d better stay away from the water, or her mermaid tail will give her away.
Meg is certain their foster mother, Marmee, would never approve if she knew the truth. And Laurie, Jo’s kindhearted best friend from next door, would probably run for his life. But keeping their secret is becoming harder by the day.
Their small town outside Salem is already on edge. A vicious creature has been spotted in the woods, and Farmer Bhaer is convinced it’s responsible for his missing chickens. As Halloween approaches, rumors spread that something evil is hiding in the forest—and Meg fears that whatever is out there will lead the townspeople straight to the March sisters.
There’s another problem: Meg doesn’t always remember what happens when she goes out at night. Sometimes she wakes alone among the moss and trees, with no idea how she got there or what she’s done.
With John Brooke determined to uncover Meg’s secrets and frightened townspeople hunting for monsters in their midst, Meg has to find the beast before someone else does. Because if she can’t solve the mystery of what’s haunting the woods, she could lose the only home—and the only family—she’s ever known.
Máire Roche is a former teacher who now writes books for all ages. She writes thrillers and romantic suspense under Mary E. Roach, and fantasy under Máire Roche. You can find her on Instagram or in her garden talking to the bees.
In this modern supernatural middle grade retelling of the beloved classic Little Women, the March sisters are hiding a monstrous secret—and Meg will do anything to keep it that way. Especially now that another beast is lurking in the woods, threatening to expose them all.
Meg March and her three sisters are monsters. Really. Meg has teeth that are just a little too sharp. Jo grows fur beneath the full moon. Beth can fly through the night on wings she can barely conceal beneath her sweaters. And Amy? She’d better stay away from the water, or her mermaid tail will give her away.
Meg is certain their foster mother, Marmee, would never approve if she knew the truth. And Laurie, Jo’s kindhearted best friend from next door, would probably run for his life. But keeping their secret is becoming harder by the day.
Their small town outside Salem is already on edge. A vicious creature has been spotted in the woods, and Farmer Bhaer is convinced it’s responsible for his missing chickens. As Halloween approaches, rumors spread that something evil is hiding in the forest—and Meg fears that whatever is out there will lead the townspeople straight to the March sisters.
There’s another problem: Meg doesn’t always remember what happens when she goes out at night. Sometimes she wakes alone among the moss and trees, with no idea how she got there or what she’s done.
With John Brooke determined to uncover Meg’s secrets and frightened townspeople hunting for monsters in their midst, Meg has to find the beast before someone else does. Because if she can’t solve the mystery of what’s haunting the woods, she could lose the only home—and the only family—she’s ever known.
Máire Roche is a former teacher who now writes books for all ages. She writes thrillers and romantic suspense under Mary E. Roach, and fantasy under Máire Roche. You can find her on Instagram or in her garden talking to the bees.
1. List three adjectives to describe your book “Little Monsters”?
Magical, monstrous, heartfelt.
2. Was “Little Monsters” the original title or were there other titles?
Little Monsters has been the title since I first thought of the concept! Oftentimes, titles change throughout the writing and publication process, but my pub team and I both agreed that Little Monsters was the right one for the book.
3. What inspired you to reimagine Little Women as a supernatural middle-grade novel?
I loved Little Women growing up and when I decided to write a middle grade novel, I considered doing a retelling—something that could intrigue audiences of different ages, but still sit firmly in the middle grade space. At the same time, I’ve been talking to a lot of young readers during school visits, and I’ve heard from so many that they love spooky books so much! The ideas instantly combined for me—Little Women, but make it spooky.
4. Why did you choose Meg March as the central character instead of Jo, who is often the focus of modern retellings?
I love Meg. As a fellow eldest daughter, I connected to Meg in the original Little Women when I read it as a child. I think that the way that Meg in the original text is both heavily leaned on by her sisters (and parents) but also often dismissed makes her a fascinating character with a lot of real depth. Jo is great too, of course, and so are the other sisters—I actually hope to write about each one some day! But first I wanted to give Meg her moment.
5. Your version transforms each March sister into a different kind of monster. How did you decide which creature best suited each sister?
I put a lot of thought into this part! I wanted each monstrous power to reflect some character flaw found in the original sisters, or something that would challenge them and ask them to grow. For Meg, who has to (for her safety and her sister’s safety) care so much about her physical appearance in the original Little Women, I wanted a monstrous power that reflected that. In Little Monsters, Meg still has to care about her appearance to an extent—she’s a middle school girl, she’s in foster care and has been moved from home to home often, and she faces immense pressure. Even though the circumstances of her life are different than Meg March’s in Little Women, she has some similar pressures. Giving her a monstrous ability that impacts her physical appearance in ways she can’t control (when she feels a strong emotion, her fingernails turn into claws and her teeth transform into sharp fangs) felt like a good way to push on one of Meg’s biggest insecurities and worries, and ultimately cause her to grow.
6. Little Women has been adapted countless times. How did you make sure Little Monsters felt both familiar and completely original?
I love many of the recent adaptations we’ve gotten, and how diverse and varied they are! Bethany C. Morrow has a fantastic historical adaptation, So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix, Bre Indigo illustrated a really cool modern graphic novel retelling, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Modern Graphic Novel Retelling of Little Women, and recently, Katie Bernet’s Beth Is Dead debuted on the NYT bestseller list. There are so many creative places other authors have taken the story, and I’m grateful to both the other authors in the space and to Louisa May Alcott for writing a text that has stood the test of time. For me, honoring the familiar story was important, but it was equally important to make something so completely new. I hadn’t found a fantasy or horror-adjacent retelling of the sisters (though it certainly could exist—please someone DM me with a rec if you find a title). There are nods to the source text throughout, and plenty of familiar characters—but there’s also Mothman, a Salem forest full of unexplained creatures, and “seam cities” that exist at the seams between worlds!
7. Were there any scenes or themes from Louisa May Alcott's novel that you knew you had to preserve?
One fun way I got to honor the source text was actually through the opening line. In Little Women, the four March sisters are gathered together worrying about the lack of money and presents, and “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents” is the opening line. In Little Monsters, Meg’s younger sisters are all gathered in her room (eldest sisters will understand) and we open with “Halloween won’t be Halloween without any costumes.” It’s a new story that stands on its own, but it was fun to pay homage to the original text with an opening line that mirrored the opening of Little Women.
8. What do you think makes Little Women such an enduring story for new generations?
I think that some of the themes of girlhood and sisterhood have continued to inspire readers. There is something about a band of sisters who squabble and would do anything for each other that made me love it when I read it as a child, and continues to inspire. I think that Louisa May Alcott’s feminism is a part of that—while there are certainly elements to her story that didn’t age well, there is so much she got right, and she believed in the power and importance of the young girls she was writing about.
9. Which of the March sisters were the most fun to reinvent?
Can I cheat and say that writing my version of Laurie (an auDHD-coded, Minecraft-loving sweetheart who follows Jo around) was my favorite? If I had to pick a March sister, I think writing a modern version of Amy was a lot of fun, and I hope I get to write Amy’s book someday.
10. Salem's history and folklore create a fascinating backdrop. What attracted you to that setting?
I love Salem! I have several friends who live in the area and I’ve spent a bit of time there. I knew I wanted to set the story in Massachusetts, as a nod to Louisa May Alcott (who lived in Concord), but Salem’s history and energy made it the perfect place.
11. Did you reread Little Women while writing, or did you rely on your memories of the classic?
I reread some favorite passages, especially the ones featuring Meg with John Brooke, one of my other favorite characters in the original. I read and reread the entire, unabridged version of Little Women so many times in my childhood, though, that it felt very easy to pull from memory.
12. Was there a particular scene that was especially difficult—or especially fun—to write?
This book has tons of high-stakes, high-action spooky moments, but I actually found one quiet heart-to-heart conversation scene at the end to be my favorite. I don’t want to spoil anything, but Marmee (in this version, she’s the girls’ foster mom) talks to Meg about self-acceptance and self-love. Meg gets to come full circle, understand how loved she is by her community, and starts to look at herself with a different lens. It was really beautiful and special to write.
13. How do you approach writing spooky scenes that are exciting without becoming too frightening for younger readers?
I listen to kids! I would say that’s the most important thing to do as an author of kidlit. Talk to your own kids if you have them (and listen to what they say), do school visits, teach. And then ask questions! At the end of every school visit, I save time for Q&A, which is standard, but after the teens or kids have asked questions, I take some time to ask them questions. So many kids want scary books currently, something that I theorize is a response to an increasingly loud, overwhelming world, and it’s important to me to do that in a way that centers kids and what they actually want and need to read.
14. If you could spend a day with one of the monster versions of the March sisters, who would it be and why?
Honestly, I’d love to hang out with Beth for a day! I love Meg, of course, but I already got to spend a whole book with her. Beth is pretty quiet, but she has super cool bat-like wings and a tendency to fly away. I’d like to ask her about some of her nighttime jaunts.
15. If Little Monsters were adapted into an animated film or live-action series, what would you be most excited to see brought to life?
I’d love an adaptation! I think it would be so fun to see the spooky, cozy Salem street that Meg and her sisters live on, and of course I’d love to see an adaptation of the monstrous powers each sister has. The final showdown scene would also be so much fun to see on the screen!
16. Have you watched any of the film adaptations of “Little Women”? If so, which one?
I watched an older adaptation of the movie as a teenager (I can’t remember which one) but not many! I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I haven’t even watched the recent Greta Gerwig take on Little Women, though I’ve been meaning to.
17. If you could give Louisa May Alcott an advance copy of Little Monsters, what would you hope she'd say after reading it?
You know, I think she’d be surprised but I like to think she’d like it. In her own time, she wanted to write stories that were scarier and darker and stranger than Little Women. She often expressed that she wished she could be known for stories that at the time, only men really got to write (or women with male-sounding pen names). She has some incredible psychological horror short stories and other work that is boundary-pushing and dark, especially for her time. She often expressed frustration that so many people wanted her to focus on marrying each sister off, and wanted to tell stories that were more expansive. I like to think that she’d look at Little Monsters and enjoy the fact that girls were allowed to be monstrous on page, and to be celebrated for that instead of sanitized or stripped of their power.
18. Can readers expect more fairy-tale or classic literature retellings from you in the future?
Yes! While there’s nothing I can announce yet, I am hoping to spend more time in this world.
19. Last question, in one word how would you sum up your experience writing “Little Monsters” and releasing it to the world to read?
Fulfilling.
Magical, monstrous, heartfelt.
2. Was “Little Monsters” the original title or were there other titles?
Little Monsters has been the title since I first thought of the concept! Oftentimes, titles change throughout the writing and publication process, but my pub team and I both agreed that Little Monsters was the right one for the book.
3. What inspired you to reimagine Little Women as a supernatural middle-grade novel?
I loved Little Women growing up and when I decided to write a middle grade novel, I considered doing a retelling—something that could intrigue audiences of different ages, but still sit firmly in the middle grade space. At the same time, I’ve been talking to a lot of young readers during school visits, and I’ve heard from so many that they love spooky books so much! The ideas instantly combined for me—Little Women, but make it spooky.
4. Why did you choose Meg March as the central character instead of Jo, who is often the focus of modern retellings?
I love Meg. As a fellow eldest daughter, I connected to Meg in the original Little Women when I read it as a child. I think that the way that Meg in the original text is both heavily leaned on by her sisters (and parents) but also often dismissed makes her a fascinating character with a lot of real depth. Jo is great too, of course, and so are the other sisters—I actually hope to write about each one some day! But first I wanted to give Meg her moment.
5. Your version transforms each March sister into a different kind of monster. How did you decide which creature best suited each sister?
I put a lot of thought into this part! I wanted each monstrous power to reflect some character flaw found in the original sisters, or something that would challenge them and ask them to grow. For Meg, who has to (for her safety and her sister’s safety) care so much about her physical appearance in the original Little Women, I wanted a monstrous power that reflected that. In Little Monsters, Meg still has to care about her appearance to an extent—she’s a middle school girl, she’s in foster care and has been moved from home to home often, and she faces immense pressure. Even though the circumstances of her life are different than Meg March’s in Little Women, she has some similar pressures. Giving her a monstrous ability that impacts her physical appearance in ways she can’t control (when she feels a strong emotion, her fingernails turn into claws and her teeth transform into sharp fangs) felt like a good way to push on one of Meg’s biggest insecurities and worries, and ultimately cause her to grow.
6. Little Women has been adapted countless times. How did you make sure Little Monsters felt both familiar and completely original?
I love many of the recent adaptations we’ve gotten, and how diverse and varied they are! Bethany C. Morrow has a fantastic historical adaptation, So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix, Bre Indigo illustrated a really cool modern graphic novel retelling, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Modern Graphic Novel Retelling of Little Women, and recently, Katie Bernet’s Beth Is Dead debuted on the NYT bestseller list. There are so many creative places other authors have taken the story, and I’m grateful to both the other authors in the space and to Louisa May Alcott for writing a text that has stood the test of time. For me, honoring the familiar story was important, but it was equally important to make something so completely new. I hadn’t found a fantasy or horror-adjacent retelling of the sisters (though it certainly could exist—please someone DM me with a rec if you find a title). There are nods to the source text throughout, and plenty of familiar characters—but there’s also Mothman, a Salem forest full of unexplained creatures, and “seam cities” that exist at the seams between worlds!
7. Were there any scenes or themes from Louisa May Alcott's novel that you knew you had to preserve?
One fun way I got to honor the source text was actually through the opening line. In Little Women, the four March sisters are gathered together worrying about the lack of money and presents, and “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents” is the opening line. In Little Monsters, Meg’s younger sisters are all gathered in her room (eldest sisters will understand) and we open with “Halloween won’t be Halloween without any costumes.” It’s a new story that stands on its own, but it was fun to pay homage to the original text with an opening line that mirrored the opening of Little Women.
8. What do you think makes Little Women such an enduring story for new generations?
I think that some of the themes of girlhood and sisterhood have continued to inspire readers. There is something about a band of sisters who squabble and would do anything for each other that made me love it when I read it as a child, and continues to inspire. I think that Louisa May Alcott’s feminism is a part of that—while there are certainly elements to her story that didn’t age well, there is so much she got right, and she believed in the power and importance of the young girls she was writing about.
9. Which of the March sisters were the most fun to reinvent?
Can I cheat and say that writing my version of Laurie (an auDHD-coded, Minecraft-loving sweetheart who follows Jo around) was my favorite? If I had to pick a March sister, I think writing a modern version of Amy was a lot of fun, and I hope I get to write Amy’s book someday.
10. Salem's history and folklore create a fascinating backdrop. What attracted you to that setting?
I love Salem! I have several friends who live in the area and I’ve spent a bit of time there. I knew I wanted to set the story in Massachusetts, as a nod to Louisa May Alcott (who lived in Concord), but Salem’s history and energy made it the perfect place.
11. Did you reread Little Women while writing, or did you rely on your memories of the classic?
I reread some favorite passages, especially the ones featuring Meg with John Brooke, one of my other favorite characters in the original. I read and reread the entire, unabridged version of Little Women so many times in my childhood, though, that it felt very easy to pull from memory.
12. Was there a particular scene that was especially difficult—or especially fun—to write?
This book has tons of high-stakes, high-action spooky moments, but I actually found one quiet heart-to-heart conversation scene at the end to be my favorite. I don’t want to spoil anything, but Marmee (in this version, she’s the girls’ foster mom) talks to Meg about self-acceptance and self-love. Meg gets to come full circle, understand how loved she is by her community, and starts to look at herself with a different lens. It was really beautiful and special to write.
13. How do you approach writing spooky scenes that are exciting without becoming too frightening for younger readers?
I listen to kids! I would say that’s the most important thing to do as an author of kidlit. Talk to your own kids if you have them (and listen to what they say), do school visits, teach. And then ask questions! At the end of every school visit, I save time for Q&A, which is standard, but after the teens or kids have asked questions, I take some time to ask them questions. So many kids want scary books currently, something that I theorize is a response to an increasingly loud, overwhelming world, and it’s important to me to do that in a way that centers kids and what they actually want and need to read.
14. If you could spend a day with one of the monster versions of the March sisters, who would it be and why?
Honestly, I’d love to hang out with Beth for a day! I love Meg, of course, but I already got to spend a whole book with her. Beth is pretty quiet, but she has super cool bat-like wings and a tendency to fly away. I’d like to ask her about some of her nighttime jaunts.
15. If Little Monsters were adapted into an animated film or live-action series, what would you be most excited to see brought to life?
I’d love an adaptation! I think it would be so fun to see the spooky, cozy Salem street that Meg and her sisters live on, and of course I’d love to see an adaptation of the monstrous powers each sister has. The final showdown scene would also be so much fun to see on the screen!
16. Have you watched any of the film adaptations of “Little Women”? If so, which one?
I watched an older adaptation of the movie as a teenager (I can’t remember which one) but not many! I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I haven’t even watched the recent Greta Gerwig take on Little Women, though I’ve been meaning to.
17. If you could give Louisa May Alcott an advance copy of Little Monsters, what would you hope she'd say after reading it?
You know, I think she’d be surprised but I like to think she’d like it. In her own time, she wanted to write stories that were scarier and darker and stranger than Little Women. She often expressed that she wished she could be known for stories that at the time, only men really got to write (or women with male-sounding pen names). She has some incredible psychological horror short stories and other work that is boundary-pushing and dark, especially for her time. She often expressed frustration that so many people wanted her to focus on marrying each sister off, and wanted to tell stories that were more expansive. I like to think that she’d look at Little Monsters and enjoy the fact that girls were allowed to be monstrous on page, and to be celebrated for that instead of sanitized or stripped of their power.
18. Can readers expect more fairy-tale or classic literature retellings from you in the future?
Yes! While there’s nothing I can announce yet, I am hoping to spend more time in this world.
19. Last question, in one word how would you sum up your experience writing “Little Monsters” and releasing it to the world to read?
Fulfilling.
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