Anne of Green Gables Series - L M. Montgomery

This is a brilliant series, obviously her crowning work. If you read Montgomery's biography you will find she sufffered bouts of depression which show in her work - because the 'Pat' series is uniformly bland, as are some of her one-off books like the Blue Castle (I classify it as cheap romance). I grew up with this series and so did my best friends, so it has a lot of nostalgia and poignancy beyond the actual work, which is beautiful in itself. I think they're all available from gutenberg but I can't be sure because I have my own series, most of which is in the lovely Angus and Robertson editions you will see below.

Anne of Green Gables

Prior to Anne of Green Gables, there were a lot of these orphan adoption stories. Ruth Fielding, Pollyanna. But I feel, although I don't have the research to prove it, that it all came to an end with Anne of Green Gables, because this book is literature. It is a gem. Not only does it have such beautiful descriptions of Prince Edward Island (henceforth, P.E.I), harum-scarum Anne is immortal. She's a character as never known before - such good intentions, but so far from perfect, always the perpetrator of some "scrape", such quaint language, and such a way with people that readers are as equally charmed as, say, Marilla. Anne is stubborn and strong-willed, an optimist who learns and loves. Her feud with Gilbert Blythe is a thread that binds the book together, to the end where she forgives him and they become such friends. This book stands so well on its own, everytime I read it I get a sense of completion at the end that doesn't come with the other books. You get a strong sense of the town life with all the comings and goings of so many families, and all that clannishness. Although I've always felt Diana was sweet, but not of Anne's calibre and may fall a little short as a best friend, loveable as she is. The scrapes they get into! The haunted wood, jumping on Aunt Josephine, the story club! It's such a laugh-out-loud read. And the cover reflects that, with the chummy smile on the face of a miniature Anne.

Anne of Avonlea

Here, Anne undergoes a metamorphosis. She's slender and dainty and wears something of her soul in her limpid grey eyes, although she still gets into a few scrapes. The book opens with an argument with the new neighbour, Mr. Harris and his disreputable parrot, Ginger. She ends up accidently selling his cow. As it is in the first book, humor plays a large part in this novel, from when falls through the roof of someone's duck house, to when she and Marilla adopt a set of twins. Dora is prim and proper, but Davy is an adorable, irascible "holy terror". She and Gilbert also start the AVIS, the Avonlea Improvement Society, and happen to paint the hall bright blue! Anne is teaching this year and wins the love of every little soul, down to Anthony Pye of the infamous Pyes. And at the end, Gilbert is there to help her cross her threshold into womanhood. It is such an amusing read, with much of the same spirit as Anne of Green Gables. I love the cover and font of this one. Its in the impressionist, hazy brushstrokes that I think conveys Anne's soul very well.


Anne of the Island

This is Anne and her friends' initiation into adult life and the romance of youth. It is choc-a-bloc full of proposals and marriages and courting, and I think that's where a little of the humour comes in. But suddenly things are more serious, Anne is fanciful but fully-fledged, no longer the well-meaning youth always making mistakes. I kind of miss how she is before, but people do have to grow up. As well, it is her magic college years with the warmth of Patty's Place as Anne finally attends Redmond College, as her heart desires. She meets a whole new wealth of friends, among them the loveable and incorrigable Phillipa Gordon, and we also meet up again with the fanciful Stella Maynard and the lovely Priscilla Grant. Halfway through the book, Gilbert proposes, and is rejected kindly but heartwrenchingly. Then Anne's own ideal of Prince Charming comes in the form of the "dark, melancholy and inscrutable" Royal Gardiner and it seems like Anne's future is mapped out with this handsome stranger until... I like this book well, and Anne's final engagement is very satisfactory, but I miss the innocence and amusing tidbits of the earlier books. The reader definately knows before Anne who she is going to end up with.
I really like these editions of the series, by Angus and Robertson. Anne is very true to life, just as a imagined her, with the dreamy face and freckles. It has her down pat, just as Megan Follows has her down pat in the Anne of Green Gables movie.

Anne of Windy Willows (also published as Anne of Windy Poplars)Definately one of my favourites in the series. This book just hums with life. Anne has accepted the principalship of a private girls school whilst waiting out the three years until her marriage to -humm-. Again, the cover is beautiful to behold. I love the quirk of her nose and the richness of her hair, she IS Anne. The cat is Dusty Miller and the little golden girl is little Elizabeth, quaint and pixyish. The illustrator, Margaret Power, must have really enjoyed the series.
It's an epistolary novel punctuated by bits of quaint storytelling. The whole story is charming. Anne is up against the elite of Summerside, the Pringles, who run the place. They have a grudge against her and really wage warfare against her. Suddenly and unexpectedly, she wins their support through the most surprising of events. There's also a prickly vice-principle Katherine Brooke, the lovely aunts she boards with, the immortal Rebecca Dew and many such people. There is the fair share of romance in this story, and Anne has her part in fixing up many people's lives. I think I missed Windy Willows (where she boards) as much as she when she leaves!


Anne's House of Dreams

In this book, Anne is married and lives in a little out of the way place she dubs her house of dreams. Her social circle is much much smaller, being comprised of the man-hating Miss Cornelia who blisters the men with her sharp tongue, but who is very warm-hearted, the tragic and beautiful Leslie Moore, cold and vibrant and resentful in turns, the sailor Captain Jim, the talented Owen Ford and later, the housekeeper Susan. And of course, Anne's husband (I'm trying not to spoil anything but it feels so strange calling him that all the time, as though he's a stranger in the series) and one or two more additions to the family. Like all of the other books, everything works together for best in the end. Apparently this book predated Windy Willows by many years - Windy Willows was written when a movie of Anne of made, and published for publicity. This is the last book in the series that focuses on Anne, for which I cannot be grateful.

Anne of Ingleside