Ah, the bookshelf in our classroom during my later years at primary school, I remember it well. Replete with titles and illustrated covers promising tales for children of adventure and derring-do in exotic lands: Robinson Crusoe, King Solomon’s Mines, Treasure Island. It had all the girls’ classics, too: Black Beauty, Little Women, What Katy Did, Heidi, and Anne of Green Gables. Of course, I never read any of the latter books…until recently, that is, when I finally read L M Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, having been inspired to do so by watching Netflix’s excellent Canadian TV adaptation, Anne with an E (2017).
The novel was published in 1908 by Canadian author L M Montgomery (Lucy Maud Montgomery 1874–1942). Set in the late 19ᵗʰ century, it recounts the adventures of 11-year-old orphan girl Anne Shirley sent by mistake to two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who run their farm in the close-knit community of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. They had planned to adopt a boy who could help them with the farm work and so when Anne arrives, their first instinct is to send her straight back. However, her exuberant pleading persuades them to keep her for a trial period and soon her personality wins them over.
Anne is talkative to the extreme, hugely imaginative, dramatic, an extractor of joy from life wherever it may exist, and a touchstone of youthful idealism, if a little prone to defensiveness over her red hair, freckles and pale complexion. She is also insistent that her name should always be spelt with an “e” at the end, hence the title of the TV adaptation. In this she was played impeccably by Amybeth McNulty, the more so now that I have read the book and see how accurately she nailed the character. The whole series turned out to be a largely faithful rendering of the book and certainly it was a heart-warming depiction of a simple turn-of-the-century lifestyle in rural Canada, well wroth the watch.
Since its publication, Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies — that’s actually not far behind J K Rowling’s Harry Potter books albeit having had a century longer to sell copies! And it has that accolade for good reason, so who knows, I may even have to delve into Black Beauty or Heidi next?
Fun fact: the Japanese use the series to teach English in school. A few years ago we made the pilgrimage to Cavendish PEI. We weren’t aware that “tourist season” is only about two months in the summer. We arrived at the first of June and hardly anything was open. But we did get to see the house Green Gables was based on. We pulled up to the parking lot and were the only car there. That is, until a very large tour bus pulled in and dozens of retirement-age Japanese people piled out of it. Yes, they almost all had very fancy cameras and enthusiastically took pictures of everything. You would think (as I did at first) that having the place to ourselves to wander around in and imagine living there 100 years ago would be better, but it wouldn’t have been. It was an absolute delight to see the joy in the eyes of a 70 year old Japanese man as he turned around from the doorway of a bedroom made up to look like Anne’s, or hear an elderly wife chatter excitedly to her husband to come look at the pantry (I assume). They were so kind and respectful and so glad to be there and sharing the experience with us. It was the highlight of our trip.
Fabulous story, Jennifer! What I wouldn’t give for a visit to PEI too. Tell me, have you watched the Netflix TV adaptation, or do you prefer to keep the book sacrosanct in your mind?
I watched a few of the episodes and haven’t gone back to it yet. I generally don’t like having to wait for episodes, so I will wait until an entire series is out before starting it.
No, I know the stories from the 80s Canada version Kevin Sullivan made, the first two movies anyway. The third was a disaster from start to finish. They don’t tell the stories in order following the books, but for the most part it’s faithful. If you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend getting your hands on Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea (which I think has been retitled Anne of Green Gables The Sequel). If it’s Megan Follows as Anne, you’ve got the right ones. Just stay away from The Continuing Story. I can’t find it streaming anywhere, so you’d have to buy either physical DVDs on amazon or rent/buy it there. But it’s worth it. An absolutely charming story and incredibly well-done adaptation. Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth as Matthew and Marilla.
The heartache for me is that you may not be able to experience the magic of it as we did then, because technology and entertainment have changed. Then, it was on PBS during telethon week, or on the Disney channel whenever they decided to play it. Entertainment options were fewer and more of your acquaintances were watching it. You didn’t get to decide when to watch it, and you made sure to catch it when it WAS on. It was very like the Firth/Ehle Pride and Prejudice that way.
I hope you can find them and watch, and I hope you enjoy them. I’m going to go find a way to watch them now.