Millions of people around the world adore the story of Anne of Green Gables. Thanks to L.M Montgomery’s series and numerous film and television adaptations, Anne, along with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, Diana Barry and Gilbert Blythe are so familiar as to almost be part of people’s lives.
When I learned that a prequel about Marilla’s early life was available, I was thrilled. At the same time, I was also anxious. When a story is beloved as Anne of Green Gables, one hopes that a new author can remain true to the original author’s voice and also to the characters themselves. This is not always guaranteed. But I am happy to say that Sarah McCoy’s Marilla of Green Gables managed to achieve the almost impossible.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Marilla of Green Gables takes us back in time before the arrival of a red-headed orphan. It introduces a thirteen year old Marilla, her twenty-one year old brother Matthew and their parents. Green Gables has just been built and Avonlea is the same small community we all know and love. Some of the family names will be familiar to Anne fans, proving that Avonlea residents run generations deep. We also meet Marilla’s new friend Rachel White, her Aunt Izzy and a young John Barry.
The book follows Marilla through her teenage years as she experiences change, tragedy and responsibility. The last third of the books skips ahead twenty years to show the main characters as adults. Although Marilla is the main character, we also experiences plenty of her brother Matthew and the future Rachel Lynde as well as the future father of Gilbert Blythe.
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I loved Anne of Green Gables. I’ll have to check this out.
It’s really very good and honors the original series well.