My summer of 1984 was filled with reading this entire series. I loved every page! In reading these books I learned to appreciate all of the small joys in life, pure joy in the beauty of a flower or tree, the smell of good food cooking, the joy of reading a book that you feel is one of your very best and oldest friends. I become 13 years old again whenever I pick up this book. A pure joy.

Nothing is better for a girl than to read this series. Nothing! L.M Montgomery is one of those people I'm going to meet after I die. We would have been friends had I lived on Prince Edward Island in the late 1800s. I can read these books over and over again and meet my ten year old self. It was a rite of passage to introduce my daughter to the delightful Anne Shirley and all the beloved characters of Avonlea. I was not disappointed in her reaction. After reading Anne of Green Gables, Isabella clasped the book to her chest and said, "Mom, I love these book so much it hurts me." No higher praise than that.

These are great books that I like to read over and over. Usually come fall I open them up. They're a great way to escape into a naturally beautiful yesterday, yet not too perfect world. These books can teach you things, and not just entertain you. They're skillfully & beautifully written, which is a hard to find thing in most of the new books I read.
My definition of a great book is earned if I want to read it again and again, over the years.
These books do that for me.

Note: This is a review of Anne's House of Dreams, not the entire set. I may get to that later...

I wanted to review Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery because of one line that affected me deeply the first time I read the book as a child, and that affects me deeply even now.

The Plot

Anne, whom we all know of Green Gables fame, finally marries Gilbert Blythe. Gilbert has graduated from medical school and the young couple will make their home at Four Winds, Prince Edward Island, where Gilbert will take over the practice of his aging uncle. Gilbert has rented a small house for them near the shore and a lighthouse, the perfect house for a newly married couple to start their lives together, filled with all of their dreams.

The House of Dreams has few neighbors in Four Winds: Miss Cornelia Bryant, a sworn man-hater; Captain Jim who runs the light since he can no longer set out to sea and adventures unknown; Lesley Moore, the beautiful young woman forced into an unhappy marriage and then chained to her mentally retarded husband, Dick, trying to eke out a living on her farm; and Owen Ford who boards with Lesley and Dick one summer and sets out to write the “life-book” of Captain Jim.

The plot itself, without revealing too much here, has its high and lows in the lives of Anne and Gilbert and the new friends around them. Montgomery weaves in a little romance, a lot of humor, some tears, and a surprise or two.

The Writing

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been captivated by the image of Montgomery’s Prince Edward Island in my mind. The Nevada desert where I spent my childhood was rather dreary and dusty, without visibly changing seasons. Prince Edward Island came alive for me in all of the Anne books--the beauty and abundance of flowers, tall stately trees, blossoms and brooks, and Victorian hominess. Montgomery’s descriptive prose helped me build my castles in the air, and made me yearn to travel to P.E.I. and see if nature still exists the way that it existed for the author over a century ago.

All of L.M. Montgomery’s books have the same effect on me: I chuckle frequently, laugh hysterically on occasion, and always, always, have at least one good cleansing cry of sorrow and one of joy with every book. I read and re-read most of the Anne books (and the Emily books too) as a child and teenager, and even as an adult knowing full well what will happen, I still laugh and chuckle and cry. If that’s not good writing, then I am no discriminator at all.

Despite all the idyllic descriptions and Anne’s great capacity for having things work out her way, Montgomery addresses a few topics of concern, mostly through connotation rather than outright statements. Leslie is a battered wife. From the lips of the man-hating Miss Cornelia, we hear the plight of many women who are poor, continually pregnant with children they don’t want and can’t support, and simply made slaves to their husbands and families. Montgomery also shows us the unofficial charities that ran through most communities: spinsters who sew clothes for the unwanted babies and watch other people’s children for an hour or so or old men who take in abandoned animals and lend money to those who can’t pay it back. P.E.I. has its problems like the rest of the world and Montgomery weaves them in as well, if the reader pays attention.

Minor Nitpicks (and a few spoilers—you’ve been warned)

Montgomery is a little heavy handed with foreshadowing at the beginning of Anne’s House of Dreams, as with most of the later books in this series. I never noticed when I read this novel repeatedly as a child and I cannot honestly determine whether I think the foreshadowing is heavy-handed because I know what’s going to happen or because I’m a more mature audience than in the past.

In true Victorian style, Montgomery never mentions outright that Anne is pregnant (horrors!), but sticks to euphemisms like, “their hope for the spring.” Now I catch the meaning at the first mention, though I believe I was slightly more obtuse as a child reader. In a way, the Victorian reserve regarding “unmentionable” topics adds to the charm of the novel.

What Gives Me Hope

Spoiler Warning! This section reveals not the ending of the book, but a very major piece of the plot. If you have not read the book already, please skip to the next section. I mean it.

Anne has a difficult time with the birth of her first child, Joy. Besides the danger to Anne herself, the baby is weak and lives but one day. Anne is heartbroken. Although not for the first time in her life, Anne has to deal with her own very real, very traumatic tragedy. Though she has lost people before who are close to her, namely, Matthew, he was an old man, not a new life. Anne who has had a rather large share of happiness, has to learn again that life is not fair.

Yet life goes on. Anne regains her health and aches a little less. One day, Anne smiles again. I thought something would have been missing from Anne’s smile, something that the pain of her loss had taken away and lain in a grave with a little white-gowned baby. Montgomery wrote it thus:

“Anne found that she could go on living; the day came that she even smiled again over one of Miss Cornelia’s speeches. But there was something in the smile that had never been in Anne’s smile before and would never be absent from it again.”

That something, my friends, is in the smile of one who has known tragedy and doesn’t take the joy for granted anymore. That is what restores my hope and why this line sticks in my mind.

Conclusion

Anne and her life are as real to me as my own. I’ve been a spectator throughout her life and the lives of her children. I’ve cried and laughed with her, and dreamed with Anne too. If you escaped childhood without reading any of the Anne of Green Gables novels, then read them now or you will never know all that you’ve missed.

Eu adorei o livro é extremamente adorável, eu me diverti muito, chorei e ri.
Essa foi a minha melhor leitura, eu recomendo para todas as idades, é simples a história mais se torna tão reconfortante.
Que em diversos momentos eu me senti dentro da história!!

Read the first book and loved it, the others lacked the charm the first one has and was a slug to get through.




Anne of Green Gables (16th Feb - 24th Feb) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive"



I watched a few eps of Anne with an E and thought to read book before going any further? Found the whole collection instead!

This first book was wonderful to read, it was an absolute charm and so heartwarming it made me smile! Sure Anne got a little repetitive and annoying at some points but she moved on from that and I loved her. I loved the found family dynamic with Marilla and Matthew- how close she was with the latter and how the former bonded with her wonderfully. The friendship with Diana was great and I loved Anne and Gilberts rivalry, so much fun! Anne makes the pursuit of education so exciting and I thrived off that, she had so many ideas and dreams and I miss that in the books that follow. I thought Marilla and Matthew growing old made me feel sad, but Matthew's death was so unexpected, especially after her called Anne "My girl" and being so proud of her. The discussion of grief/moving on with Mrs Allen was super relatable and comforting. But I am glad the end was just as happy and wholesome as it started.





Anne of Avonlea (25th Feb - 3rd Mar) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

"You're such a girl to have adventures, Anne."
"Having adventures comes natural to some people," said Anne serenely. "You just have a gift for them or you haven't."



Didn't feel so much of a plot with this one, felt like a filler novel as Anne grows into adulthood and teaches, studies, helps bring up two of Marilla's cousins and transform Avonlea, helping to improve it and its inhabitants. Still had charm and I loved her frolicking around and meeting knew people and having different stories like Mrs Lavendar. Weird seeing the relationships develop with characters- Diana already off to marry Fred (its always weird knowing how young people used to marry back then), but at least Anne and Gilbert's relationship is being established more! I also loved the expression Anne used at the end of the book, how she had made roots and had a settled life of little pleasures but decides to "get out all my ambitions and dust them." by going to Redmond college to finally study.





Anne of the Island (4th Mar - 11 Mar) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome them."


This book very much felt like Anne wanted an education but society wanted her to drop it to marry. All her female friends were looking for beaus or had beaus or were getting engaged/already married and she kept refusing advances. JUST LET THE GIRL FOLLOW HER DREAMS. It felt annoyingly suffocating. Philippa kind of annoyed me but it was so sweet of her to take Anne home in Bolingbroke where Anne born, goes to the little house where woman gives her letters written by parents

The illness and death of Ruby and its effect on Anne, upsetting to see friend deteriorate, especially so young. I did love exploring how Anne struggled to adjust to so many changes- deaths and couples, society, Diana married to Fred so lives further away- but I didn't like how it made her feel out of place because of it, adding to the pressure she must find someone NOW. I'm very glad she still allowed herself time find someone. To explore her feelings for others to realise her true feelings for Gilbert than being forced to rush into love and marriage.




Anne of Windy Poplars (11 Mar - 25th Mar) ⭐️⭐️

"I've always loved the night and I'll like lying awake and thinking over everything in life, past, present and to come. Especially to come."


The series feels like it's growing duller and losing it's vitality which made me fall in love with the first book. Most of the book was letters to Gilbert of idle chatter or Anne playing matchmaker and teaching. I know she's an adult now but she hasn't got the charm of her teenage years. I miss it. I don't like this annoying fixer-upper with no character development. And again, also felt like not a lot of plot, filling another gap.





Anne's House of Dreams (25th Mar - 25th May) ⭐️⭐️.5

"Joy and grief, birth and death, had made sacred forever this little house of dreams."


At first I had hopes, I loved the reunion with Anne and Diana back together at Green Gables along with Marilla, Davy and Dora and Mrs Lynde. Bless Marilla knowing Anne will never live with her again! But that's as much as I enjoyed, I don't like domestic Anne or Gilbert and their house of dreams. I ended up stopping at the start and going on Hiatus for about two months or so to plough through other books before returning.

Must admit, once I got back to reading, it did pick up after the initial domesticity with Leslie's story, following her and her "husband" and Owen and following Captain Jim's story- he was an interesting character. I also appreciated how childbirth and loss was dealt with, done really well for a children's audience. I felt for Anne as she grieved.



Anne of Ingleside (25th May - 1st June) ⭐️⭐️

"it's been lovely to be Anne of Green Gables again for a week, but it's a hundred times lovelier to come back and be Anne of Ingleside."



FIVE CHILDREN!? Ew. Ahaha, anyway. This book definitely followed the children more than Anne in motherhood. I did like how the children's imaginations were an echo of Anne in the first book! This one didn't feel so much of a deag but was still dull to me with domestic family life, nothing *happens* again, almost feels like another filler book to bring up another story in the next, just helping us learn the new characters- the 5 children.




Rainbow Valley (1st June - 9th June) ⭐️⭐️

"The sun was setting over Rainbow Valley. The pond was wearing a wonderful tissue of purple and gold and green and crimson. A faint blue haze rested on the eastern hill, over which a great, pale, round moon was just floating up like a silver bubble. They were all there, squatted in the little open glade- Faith and Una, Jerry and Carl, Jem and Walter, Nan and Di, and Mary Vance. They had been having a special celebration"



This time we don't even really focus on the Blythe family but the escapades of the Meredith family. This group is definitely more rough and tumble than the dreamers of Ingleside, especially with Mary's introduction and the trouble they all get involved in. Mr. Meredith's character just annoyed me with his lack of presence, neglecting the kids as well as himself. Couldn't care for the housewife gossip or yet another "I can't marry you!" But then marries them plot.




Rilla of Ingleside (10th June - 20th June) ⭐️⭐️

"I'm afraid our old world has come to an end, Rilla. We've got to face that fact."



I really wanted to enjoy this one being war based but Rilla's character ruined it. I could not stand her, even as she developed and matured. All the kids are adults and pretty much paired up (mainly Blythe's and Meredith's) and all the boys go to war, I'm so sad about Walter he was my favourite bless his soul. I loved Jem and Dog Monday's reunion, that was adorable! There was so much agonising tension and emotions during the war in Europe, the Canadian families worrying from events to so far yet so close, I would have loved it if we weren't stuck with Rilla.

How can you not love Anne of Green Gables? She's such a kindred spirit.

Ok this is right now!! Of course I read every one of these years ago and loved them !!

Before anything, I'd like to make it clear that I did not in fact finish the entirety of this collection. I purchased the whole thing simply because I expected to enjoy the first and most iconic, "Anne of Green Gables", and figured I would go ahead should I choose to return to the full collection at a later date.

This review is only for the aforementioned "Anne of Green Gables".

Put simply, I loved this book. I described it a number of times during my reading it as, lovely, delightful, wonder-full, and remarkably pleasant. For those that are in need of returning to a simpler time of adolescence, the wholeness of Anne's character will certainly deliver. That is not to say that this book does not also offer a series of discussions about more "mature" topics: about death, about expectation and persistence, about the joys of creativity and imagination...as well as diversity of love. The nature writing in this book is also supreme; I will forever find Green Gables a pleasant place to return to, and think that readers of all ages would enjoy frolicking with Anne through Lover's Lane (and would recommended that they do).

The only reason I haven't given this book a five stars is that I am unsure what benchmark a five-star book has to make - it might be changed later on.

I can't believe I didn't read these books sooner! I adored them. Anne is such a unique, captivating character and I loved how themes of faith, family, and imagination were woven throughout the series in natural, believable ways. I will be reading and rereading these for years to come.

Read as a family--mom, dad, 9 yr old girl, 11 yr old boy and everyone enjoyed it. I only liked books with magic as a kid but read all of these a few years ago as an adult and loved the historical aspect of it. I was pleasantly surprised that everyone in the family enjoyed Anne and her foibles and energy and ambitions.

Anne Stories

Most classic literature by women authors is reflection of their collected wisdom through their lives, and the morality and ethics of the writing follows a lifeblood path as do the romances, rather than a study and a fancy clubbed together.

This set of tales was probably serialized originally, especially the second one on, from the tone of separate chapters - each a complete story, and yet they follow smoothly, flowing quite nicely one after another together.

The titles seem to indicate Anne's progress in life via the procession of widening circles they indicate - the house, the village, the island, and then they go specifying again, with house her home, and it's location.

One exasperation for a reader would be, when tempted by the beautiful descriptions of various places, one looks for just where it all is - and the place doesn't exist, or at least pieces don't match. Names are taken from wherever the author liked, and while descriptions might fit a place, it's hard to find just where any of them exists on maps.
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Anne of Green Gables

The book begins with Mrs. Rachel Lynde, who is as much antithesis of Elizabeth from Elizabeth's German Garden as could be. That, one supposes after the protagonist appears, was a little bitter dose so the cherry cake Anne is that much more astounding, taking one by complete surprise.

It's a surprise that the protagonist is a little orphan girl arriving fresh at the home named Green Gables, rather than the woman of indeterminate age one sees on the cover, but that passes. Before long, before one knows, one is deep in comfort with Anne's world. The book is about halfway before one realises she's not going to be grown up in this volume, the author being in no hurry, and one is to enjoy the girlhood and the world thereof, with school and friends, teachers and walks in woods, and not talking to boys who are interested in one.

Nice to have descriptions of loveliness of nature and seasons strewn all over, but characterisation are good, and one expects Anne would grow out of hating Gilbert Blythe, which she is more than done already, long before they tie for top at entrance exam to Queen's.

And they are friends just as this ends, bringing satisfaction to reader despite the tragedy that smites in the silent Matthew departing and Marilla dealing with more.

June 26, 2020 - July 01, 2020.
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Anne of Avonlea

Here we have Anne's career as a schoolteacher and beginning of society of her generation of Avonlea, with Gilbert Blythe now her close friend, apart from Diana (now courted by Fred Wright), and other schoolmates that had been at Queen's.

Her life now moreover is already centred on children, her pupils at school and twins at home who are Marilla's cousins.

Anne and her friends try to improve Avonlea by getting people to improve their properties and fronts, fences and sidewalks, but are confronted by unexpected problems, from mixups leading to a hall painted bright blue instead of green, to serious horrors looming in shape of people renting their fences for advertisements.

Anne lingers in girlhood, woods and flowers and children, with Gilbert still only a friend, although she's become aware he's growing out of boyhood. Her first acquaintance with the phenomenon of love is via a love story of two people of a prior generation, one a father of a favourite student and another she discovers living in a lovely house far out of the village, surrounded by a forest anne is enchanted with; the now middle aged woman finds a kindred spirit in the young boy so like his father, the love of her life.

And the romance does blossom, with Stephen Irving returning to marry Lavender Lewis finally, after Paul writes him about meeting her. But Marilla has the sensible comment:-

""I can't see that it's so terribly romantic at all," said Marilla rather crisply. Marilla thought Anne was too worked up about it and had plenty to do with getting ready for college without "traipsing" to Echo Lodge two days out of three helping Miss Lavendar. "In the first place two young fools quarrel and turn sulky; then Steve Irving goes to the States and after a spell gets married up there and is perfectly happy from all accounts. Then his wife dies and after a decent interval he thinks he'll come home and see if his first fancy'll have him. Meanwhile, she's been living single, probably because nobody nice enough came along to want her, and they meet and agree to be married after all. Now, where is the romance in all that?""

Exactly what those not fooled by the candy floss KJ copy, KKHH, thought. But meanwhile Anne is being sent off to college after all by Marilla, and that's the end of this part of the story and of her teaching Avonlea school for now, with a possible glimmer of romance with Gilbert Blythe on horizon.

July 01, 2020 - July 07, 2020.
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Anne of the Island

One must give credit for continuity of the narrative that it picks up exactly where it left off, strengthening the guess that these were serialised writings published in periodicals before a suitable bunch was published as a book, rather than individual books published at intervals.

Changes are smooth - Diana Barry, engaged to Fred Wright back in Avonlea, has another path in life, and Priscilla Grant, familiar since Queen's, is now close friend and companion of Anne, who is at Redmond college at kingsport in Nova Scotia along with Gilbert Blythe and another Avonlea boy, Charlie Sloane. And now they meet Philippa Gordon from Bolingbroke, NS, where Anne originated.

Letters from Avonlea secured her life at college.

"Mrs. Lynde had more time than ever to devote to church affairs and had flung herself into them heart and soul. She was at present much worked up over the poor "supplies" they were having in the vacant Avonlea pulpit.

""I don't believe any but fools enter the ministry nowadays," she wrote bitterly. "Such candidates as they have sent us, and such stuff as they preach! Half of it ain't true, and, what's worse, it ain't sound doctrine. The one we have now is the worst of the lot. He mostly takes a text and preaches about something else. And he says he doesn't believe all the heathen will be eternally lost. The idea! If they won't all the money we've been giving to Foreign Missions will be clean wasted, that's what! Last Sunday night he announced that next Sunday he'd preach on the axe-head that swam. I think he'd better confine himself to the Bible and leave sensational subjects alone. Things have come to a pretty pass if a minister can't find enough in Holy Writ to preach about, that's what. What church do you attend, Anne? I hope you go regularly. People are apt to get so careless about church-going away from home, and I understand college students are great sinners in this respect. I'm told many of them actually study their lessons on Sunday. I hope you'll never sink that low, Anne."

This book is about change experienced through college years, with summers spent at home in Avonlea even as home is coming to be in two places. And instead of it being limited to light frolic and serious study - which is there, of course, with a couple of exasperating and very unexpected proposals Anne has to turn down, and a attempt at story writing that ends in disappointment at rejection by publishers - there is serious life too, with death of a beautiful friend from school, experienced deeply by Anne. And the anticlimactic winning of story competition because Diana Barry sent the story in without telling Anne, modifying it to suit the advertising of a baking powder, and Anne consequently winning twenty five dollars, to her great mortification! Splendid!

It only gets better thereafter, with millionaire neighbour asking to buy Mrs Lynde's gift of tulip patchwork quilt from Anne, the cats, and Aunt Jamesina, at Patty's Place. There's the very rich, beautiful and brainy Phillipa Gordon sharing this new home and consequently learning frugal life, and saying shopping for groceries was more fun than parties with beaux fighting over her.

It ends well, with several satisfactory weddings, and finally uniting Gilbert Blythe with Anne, after she's had every chance at her romantic fancies - refusing him, meeting the dark handsome Roy Gardner who promptly falls in love and courts her and proposes after graduation, realising she didnt love him, and finally understanding that she could only love Gilbert - so it's quite satisfactory.

July 07, 2020 - July 09, 2020.
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Anne of Windy Poplars
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Anne's House of Dreams

Three years have passed between where the last volume ends and this begins, and Anne has taught school at Summerside while Gilbert Blythe finished his medical school. Their wedding is set and he's to join his great uncle's practice or rather take it over, at Four Winds Point, and he's found a dream house for them - hence the title. Diana Wright, who'd had her son Fred as the last volume ends, meanwhile has a two year old daughter called Small Anne Cordelia, mystifying Avonlea. There's a beautiful wedding in the orchard, with Allens presiding and Philippa Gordon's husband Jonas Blake leading a prayer, a bird singing through it all.

Marilla keeps in her grief at Anne no longer living at Green Gables, and expecting her to visit no longer through every vacation, after the fourteen years of lighting up Marilla's life with love. But Anne's friends - Diana with babies, Allans and Irvings - stay through the evening to supper, comforting them, and the twins are grown and taking over. Marilla might grieve Anne, but she won't be left lonely.

Anne's new home, unlike Green Gables, is close to harbour, and it's her first close acquaintance with the ocean with its might, beauty and more. The author compares the difference of woods verses ocean as human society versus mighty lonely soul, and one gets a feeling on the other hand that a veiled comparison here is that of childhood versus adult life - woods being comparatively safe, comfy, beautiful, while ocean has all the unpredictability and lurking dangers one might encounter in life as adults. A glimpse thereof is already in the previous volume, where Anne meets her perfect romantic fantasy in Roy on seaside walk in heavy storm, and is brought back to the same spot by him when he proposes. Gilbert, on the other hand, proposes both times in woods, in a park first and in an overgrown garden finally. She rejects Roy and the uncertainty, because she realises she doesn't love him; she realises she loves Gilbert Blythe before he proposes again, and faces life in a harbour in a home facing the ocean - in secure company of the love and security thereof that she found in woods.

In a way, this progression runs parallel to that of her life moving from village of Avonlea to the college life in town of Kingsport, and then to the harbour of Four Winds, signifying possibilities of global travel and adventures.

This volume is as much about the beauty of a harbour as it's about the stunningly beautiful neighbour of Anne and Gilbert Blythe, Leslie Moore, and her travails, the very lovable Captain Jim whose life's story is entrusted to Owen Ford the incredibly handsome author, and it's all woven together in reflections somehow of light and ocean, mist and shore, lighthouse and garden. The resolution of it all is unexpected too, and answers the question one wonders about, which is, why isn't there more about the twins and Marilla and so on.

It's because they are there, doing fine, but life moves on, and Anne's life is blossoming. She and Gilbert are to buy a larger house with property across the harbour so it's convenient, and Owen Ford is buying the little house of drems so he and his bride Leslie can have vacations there.

July 09, 2020 - July 12, 2020.
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Anne of Ingleside
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Rainbow Valley

Rainbow Valley

By the time one begins this one, one is hooked. Then comes the surprise, of Rainbow Valley - the title corresponding more to the various chikdren portrayed than the valley unseen by the reader, hence quite misty.

Now thirteen years have lapsed, Anne is a mother of half a dozen, the eldest who looks like both parents born before the family shifted at the end of the last one; next son a dreamer like Anne, twin daughters Anne and Diana who look one each like one of the parents except its diana who takes her mother's colouring, the youngest a six year old daughter Rilla - short, presumably, for Marilla - in Anne's own image, and another son; and the household at Ingleside still retains Susan Baker for housekeeping and cooking, while Cornelia Bryant - who'd married Marshall Elliott after Liberals won and he got a haircut and a shave, after seventeen years - still visits regularly. And Mrs rachel lynde disapproves of Susan pampering the children. The Blythe couple has been to Europe for summer as this opens and left children in Avonlea except one whom Susan kept, since he's her pet. Their gossip session is how the author introduces next batch of characters and their histories, characters and more.

There is a new minister, and the four Meredith children make friends with the Blythe children while the latter picnic at Rainbow Valley, so named by them because they saw a rainbow stretch over it once. Here the author has a variation of the Avonlea woods for Anne's children.

And then the Meredith children find a starving orphan and adopt her for a while, with no adult any wiser, before Cornelia Bryant steps in to correct the situation - and is coaxed by Una Meredith into adopting her! So now we have a kaleidoscope of variations of the original Anne, none quite like her, and some even boys. The author is far more comfortable with children, unless it was readers who steered the author. Anne is now in background, with occasional comments from her, in conversations with Gilbert Blythe, Susan, Cornelia Bryant and others.

Cornelia Bryant continues to be the window for a reader not well versed in politics of churches, politics between communities of different churches, and what's considered propriety, which are all startling if one assumed any of it had anything to do with values such as truth, humanity, or kindness. Hence the Meredith children being always in soup despite their goodness.

Trust Anne to set the gossipers right, and point out that Meredith family is an extraordinary collection of people with rare virtues.

The author ends the book with a double wedding in immediate future, Anne's eldest Jem going off to Queen's soon, and gives a hint of the impending WWI that none of them have foreseen, except for Ellen West, sister of Rosemary, the soon to be new Mrs Meredith.

July 12, 2020 - July 14, 2020.
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Rilla of Ingleside

As much comfortingly halfway between a fairy tale and a dolls house as the other volumes of the Anne series have been until this one, this one is far too alive, gripping, from go - so much so one has ....