Emily of New Moon

Montgomery, L.M. 1923. Emily of New Moon.

Emily--like Anne Shirley--is an orphan. And like Anne, Emily loves words--loves to write. But their stories are different in some ways as well. (Emily's not prone to getting into scrapes as Anne. Emily lacks the calamity of Anne as we first meet her.) Emily is a heroine that is easy to love. She's a dreamer. Yet she can be very practical and straight forward. Very earnest. In the first few chapters, Emily loses her father--he's dying--and her fate is decided. One of her relations--someone from her mother's side of the family--will take her in and raise her. But which one? Emily doesn't know what to hope for. She doesn't know any of them, doesn't love any of them. Yet the family that takes her in--Aunt Laura, Aunt Elizabeth, Cousin Jimmy--will become her family through and through. The book follows her through her first few years at New Moon, the name of her new home. And it involves her adventures--her days at school, her friendships (with Ilse, Teddy, Perry, Lofty John, Dean Priest, etc.), her home life, her letters written to her dead father, her poems, etc.

The book is enjoyable. And Emily is a joy. A real kindred spirit.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Rilla of Ingleside

Montgomery, L.M. 1921. Rilla of Ingleside.

I will try to dry my eyes long enough to type out a review that couldn't hope to do this book justice. Rilla of Ingleside is the final book in the series of Anne books. The novel is set during World War I. For those that think Anne's life was so rosy and so perfect...just consider that her children came of age just in time for the declaration of war. The novel opens in July of 1914. Within the first few chapters, Anne has seen her firstborn son, Jem, off to war. Before the novel closes, she'll send off two more of her sons: Walter and Shirley.

Rilla of Ingleside isn't Anne's story--though we do get glimpse of the fiftyish year old mother and wife--it is Rilla's through and through. Her youngest child is just a few weeks (or is it a few months?) shy of her fifteenth birthday. Her teen years will be impacted greatly by the war. She'll have to say goodbye to her three brothers, two of her childhood chums (Jerry and Carl) and her almost-sweetheart Kenneth Ford. (Kenneth Ford is the son of Leslie Moore and Owen Ford whose story we were swept away with in Anne's House of Dreams.)

What does Rilla do with her time? She doesn't go away to school (high school and college) like her sisters Nan and Di. No, she'll start a Junior Red Cross society for the younger crowd in the village. But perhaps what changes her as a person (as a soul) is when she adopts a war baby. She quite inadvertently discovers a tragic baby--just a month or so old--whose father is a soldier overseas and whose mother has just died. Too compassionate to send to an orphanage, she takes him home--and does so in style. This baby is carried home in a soup tureen. For four long years, Rilla plays the role of mother. And it does change her...and for the better.

Life on the home front worrying about loved ones far far away is hard. Waiting to hear if they're dead or alive or if they're coming home...is difficult, is life changing. War brings hardship and worry and sorrow and grief and new perspectives on life as well.

The heart and soul of this book--the sentimental details that will pull at your heartstrings is Dog Monday. Jem's dog that stays at the train station all the years while his master is away. The dog that can't be tempted or swayed to leave the spot where he lost saw his Jem. The dog's loyalty...to both Jem....and to Walter...is not easily forgotten.

Rilla of Ingleside is a fitting end to a wonderful series. Like Anne of Green Gables, it has its bittersweet moments. It's about life--the good, the bad, the ugly, the joyous, the heartbreaking. I think it's only right that both books can bring both tears and smiles.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Rainbow Valley

Montgomery, L.M. 1919. Rainbow Valley.

This book in the series has very little to do with Anne and very much to do with a set of imaginative children. The Blythe children: Jem, Walter, Nan, Di, Shirley, and Rilla. The Meredith children: Jerry, Faith, Carl, Una. And the prone-to-trouble Mary Vance whom Mrs. Marshall Elliot (a.k.a. Miss Cornelia) adopts. The children spend their time (when they're not in school or church) playing together in Rainbow Valley. The focus on this one, however, is not on the Blythe children. No, the stars of this book are the Meredith children. Their father is the preacher. He's a widower. And the kids have a bit of time behaving themselves. For one thing, their father doesn't have any inclination what his children are up to. There is no structure. There are no clear rules. He's a bit of a lost soul...and very unobservant. If it wasn't for good old "Aunt Martha" then the children would be quite alone. (Unfortunately, Aunt Martha isn't that great a cook...or a housekeeper...or a nanny.)

There is a bit of romance in Rainbow Valley. A concerned citizen (any guesses who???) tells the preacher he needs to find a wife, a good woman who can raise his children because someone needs to do it. He finds the perfect woman too...Rosemary West...unfortunately their courtship isn't a sure thing because of a long-ago-promise between siblings.

Full of humor and heart, this one is an enjoyable read.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Travel the World: Canada: Anne of Ingleside

Montgomery, L.M. 1939. Anne of Ingleside.

Out of all of the Anne books--Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley, and Rilla of Ingleside--this one is actually my least favorite of the bunch. Perhaps it is the fact that it was written so many years after the others. Rainbow Valley, the one which chronologically is the sequel to Anne of Ingleside, was published in 1919. This one always seemed a bit tacked on to the others.

Anne is all grown up with children of her own: Jem, Walter, Nan and Di (the Blythe twins), Shirley (boy with a bit of a girly name), and Rilla, the baby of the family. Anne and Gilbert are still happily wed though we don't see too closely or intimately into their relationship. Susan Baker is their live-in helper. Part nanny. Part cook. Full-time storyteller.

The book is episodic. There isn't one narrator. The role of narrator shifts between Anne and each of her children. (I can't remember if Susan ever gets her own chapters or not.) Each child seems to get a turn in the spotlight. From baby-Rilla being frightened to walk through town carrying a cake to Jem's heartbreaking loss of his first dog. The stories are about family and friendship and at times some of the harder things in life.

My favorite sequence in Anne of Ingleside is the visit of Aunt Mary Maria, Gilbert's aunt who invites herself to stay. No one has the gumption to even hint that it's time for her to go back to her own home. But an accidental surprise birthday party does the trick just fine.

I'm not suggesting it isn't worth reading, but it doesn't have that satisfying grinning ear-to-ear something special feeling about it.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Anne's House of Dreams

Montgomery, L.M. 1922. Anne's House of Dreams.

Anne's House of Dreams is the perfect blend of bittersweet and happily ever aftering. Anne Shirley has married Gilbert Blythe. She's Anne Blythe now. (Later on she's "Mrs. Dr. Dear" but that won't be until Anne of Ingleside.) The Blythes are moving away from Avonlea and settling down in Glen St. Mary/Four Winds Point. They've got a little cottage by the sea. (There is a brook nearby so Anne is happy.) The book tells of the first few years of wedded bliss for the two. (Though the couple is not without its heartaches as they lose their first baby, Joy, the very day its born.)

Anne's House of Dreams introduces many new characters--some of my favorites I admit--Captain Jim, Miss Cornelia, Leslie Moore, Owen Ford. Marshall Elliot. Susan Baker. Who would ever want to forget their stories? Captain Jim's life-book. Leslie Moore's tragic past but enduring spirit. Miss Cornelia. She's got to be one-of-a-kind. Just a truly spirited character with so much heart and full of gumption. Practically everything out of her mouth is quotable. She sure is great at banter :)

I love this book. I do.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Anne of Windy Poplars

Montgomery, L.M. 1936. Anne of Windy Poplars.

If one were to make assumptions, one might assume that I couldn't possibly love Anne of Windy Poplars as much as the other books in the series because of the lack of Gilbert. The book is comprised of just Anne's letters after all. And on top of that, the reader is left out of the romantic correspondence between the two. When Anne has a certain kind of pen...the reader is shut out of her world. But strangely enough, surprising even to me, I just adore Anne of Windy Poplars.

I think Anne of Windy Poplars is marvelous because it introduces dozens of new characters. All original. All full of heart. All human. L.M. Montgomery is great at characterization. She got that humans have a bit of it all...a bit good...a bit bad...a bit crazy too. And her characters are lovable. Especially the flawed ones.

This book is perhaps even more episodic than the previous Anne books. We've got Anne living in Summerside on Prince Edward Island. She's boarding with Aunt Chatty, Aunt Kate, and Rebecca Dew. (And who could forget the cat Dusty Miller?) She's still teaching, and she's got a job as principal at a high school.

I think what makes L.M. Montgomery so unique as a writer is that I care. If she writes about it, when she's storytelling, she's got a knack (that should be she had a knack because I *know* she's dead) for making me care. A knack for making me want to know more. She's got me thoroughly under her spell.

I've got many favorite "side" stories--including the story of little Elizabeth (with a dozen or so different nicknames for each mood but never Lizzie)--but I think one of my favorites is the story of Nora Nelson and Jim Wilcox. That and I love the story of Esme Taylor, Dr. Lennox Carter, and Cyrus Taylor. And then there's that one about Teddy Armstrong and his father. I get veclemped just thinking about it.

This book really is a treasure of good storytelling. My head knows that it doesn't particularly advance the story of Anne and Gilbert along very much. But my heart just knows that it has so many touching little moments of life that I really can't imagine reading the series and skipping it.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Anne of the Island

Montgomery, L.M. 1915. Anne of the Island.

"Harvest is ended and summer is gone," quoted Anne Shirley, gazing across the shorn fields dreamily.

I don't know if there are enough words to describe how I feel about Anne of the Island. It is one of the most magically, wonderful, giddy-making, purely-delightful, satisfying books I've ever read...and reread...and reread. Reading this book makes all the world seem right. (At least during the reading process.) It picks up shortly after where Anne of Avonlea leaves off. Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe are preparing to go off to Redmond college. (Along with Charlie Sloane and Priscilla Grant who you may or may not remember.) Diana Barry is engaged to Fred Wright. And there is a hint of love in the air.

This is the story of Anne's college years; it spans four years. The books focus on her friendships with Priscilla Grant, Philippa Gordon, and Stella Maynard, her roommates. And of course the book focuses on her romantic-and-not-so-romantic dealings with men. Many men propose to Anne during the course of the book including Billy Andrews--who sends his sister in his place--and Sam Toliver with his bumbling, "Will yeh heve me?" (Charlie Sloane, Gilbert Blythe, and Royal Gardner are others.)

There are many side stories in Anne of The Island. And while these little asides and tangents are not employed much in modern fiction, within the works of L.M. Montgomery, they are so thoroughly charming that they just work well. Really really well.

I loved this one. Loved the romance. Loved the characters. Loved everything.

Here's my favorite bit of the book:

There is a book of Revelation in every one's life, as there is in the Bible. Anne read hers that bitter night, as she kept her agonized vigil through the hours of storm and darkness. She loved Gilbert—had always loved him! She knew that now. She knew that she could no more cast him out of her life without agony than she could have cut off her right hand and cast it from her. And the knowledge had come too late—too late even for the bitter solace of being with him at the last. If she had not been so blind—so foolish—she would have had the right to go to him now. But he would never know that she loved him—he would go away from this life thinking that she did not care. Oh, the black years of emptiness stretching before her! She could not live through them—she could not! She cowered down by her window and wished, for the first time in her gay young life, that she could die, too. If Gilbert went away from her, without one word or sign or message, she could not live. Nothing was of any value without him. She belonged to him and he to her. In her hour of supreme agony she had no doubt of that. He did not love Christine Stuart—never had loved Christine Stuart. Oh, what a fool she had been not to realize what the bond was that had held her to Gilbert—to think that the flattered fancy she had felt for Roy Gardner had been love. And now she must pay for her folly as for a crime. (237)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Travel the World: Canada: Anne of Avonlea

Montgomery, L.M. 1909. Anne of Avonlea.

Anne of Avonlea is the second book in the Anne series by L.M. Montgomery. Anne has graduated from Queens now, and is ready to begin her teaching career. She'll be teaching at the Avonlea school. She is still quite chummy with Diana Barry and Gilbert Blythe. And she is almost (but not quite) just as prone to getting into trouble as she ever was.

This second book adds some great characters: Mr. Harrison, the cranky neighbor with a parrot; Davy and Dora, the twins Marilla adopts; Paul Irving, the boy-from-the-States with a big imagination and a way with words; and Miss Lavendar, the "old" maid that has spent most of her years in seclusion but who is a true kindred spirit. And it has some great adventures or "incidents" that I love. Painting the debate hall that horrid shade of blue. Prophesying Uncle Abe's "big storm." The charming love story of Miss Lavendar and Mr. Irving...in which it is shown that it is never too late for one's Prince to return and for love to take hold.

I love Anne Shirley. I love her world. I love her friends. These books are just magical.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

2nd Canadian Challenge

I did not participate in the first challenge. But I was excited to see it being offered again for this year. Beginning July 1, 2008, and ending July 1, 2009. The challenge is to read 13 books by or about Canadians. I'll be focusing on L.M. Montgomery. I don't know which thirteen. But I've included (for my own sanity) a list of all her works. I'd like to get to them all eventually. But probably won't have time to squeeze them all in. It's being hosted by John of The Book Mine Set.

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These are the books written by L.M. Montgomery, categorized and ordered chronologically.

Novels

Anne of Green Gables (1908)
Anne of Avonlea (1909)
Kilmeny of the Orchard (1910)
The Story Girl (1911)
The Golden Road (1913)
Anne of the Island (1915)
Anne's House of Dreams (1917)
Rainbow Valley (1919)
Rilla of Ingleside (1920)
Emily of New Moon (1923)
Emily Climbs (1925)
The Blue Castle (1926)
Emily's Quest (1927)
Magic for Marigold (1929)
The Tangled Web (1931; English title - Aunt Becky Began)
Pat of Silver Bush (1933)
Mistress Pat (1935)
Anne of Windy Poplars (1936; Canadian title - Anne of Windy Willows)
Jane of Lantern Hill (1937)
Anne of Ingleside (1939)

Collected Short Stories

Chronicles of Avonlea (1912)
Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920)
The Road to Yesterday (1974)
The Doctor's Sweetheart, and Other Stories (1979)
Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans (1988)
Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea (1989)
Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side (1990)
After Many Days: Tales of Time Passed (1991)
Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement (1993)
At the Altar: Matrimonial Tales (1994)
Christmas with Anne: and Other Holiday Stories (1995)
Across the Miles: Tales of Correspondence (1995)

Poetry

The Watchman and Other Poems (1916)
The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery (1987)

Autobiography

The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career (1974, Originally published from June-Nov. 1917 in Everywoman's World)

Journals

The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, Volume I: 1889-1910 (1985; eds. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston)
The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, Volume II: 1910-1921 (1987; eds. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston)
The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, Volume III: 1921-1929 (1992; eds. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston)
The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, Volume IV: 1929-1935 (1998; eds. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston)
The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, Volume V: 1935-1942 (2004; eds. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston)

Letters

The Green Gables Letters from L. M. Montgomery to Ephraim Weber, 1905-1909 (1960; ed. Wilfred Eggleston)
My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G. B. MacMillan (1980; eds. Frances W.P. Bolger and Elizabeth R. Epperly)
After Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery’s Letters to Ephraim Weber, 1916–1941 (2005; eds. Hildi Froese Tiessen and Paul Tiessen)

Essays

Courageous Women (1934; with Marian Keith and Mabel Burns McKinley)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews