LOUISA May Alcott, celebrated author of Little Women, wrote shady thrillers unfit for the ladies, suffered wild mood swings and might be a descendant of Portuguese Jews on her mother’s side.

If those tidbits haven’t sufficiently aroused your curiosity, read on.

In the newly released Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women,  Harriet Reisen rips off the mythic veil obscuring this literary icon and uncovers a portrait far more complex and compelling than her richest characters.

The beloved children’s writer “could be so charming,” says Reisen, whose book comes to life Monday, Dec. 28 on a PBS American Masters production of the same name, “but she could also get really critical and angry.

NESHAMA Carlebach, the singer-songwriter and eldest daughter of the late Shlomo Carlebach, has soulfully interpreted her father’s vast repertoire since his death in 1994.

“Higher and Higher,” her seventh CD, elevates Shlomo’s legacy –– and her own musicality –– to new and unexpected gospel heights with the Bronx-based Green Pastures Baptist Church Choir.

Four years ago, Avi Weiss, who invites the group to sing at his Orthodox shul every Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, suggested that Carlebach might enjoy listening to a performance.

“Avi was a close friend of my father,” Carlebach says from her Manhattan home, where she just returned from a walk with her three-year-old son Rafael.