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    Anne of Windy Poplars
    Anne of Windy Poplars
    Anne of Windy Poplars
    Ebook335 pages5 hours

    Anne of Windy Poplars

    By L. M. Montgomery

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    About this ebook

    A classic for all ages, this official, unabridged edition of Anne of Windy Poplars features the unforgettable character of Anne Shirley and special memories, exclusively from L.M. Montgomery's granddaughter.

    Anne Shirley has a tendency to stir up controversy wherever she goes. And her new position as principal of Summerside High School is no exception. The Pringles, the ruling family in town, want one of their own in the job, and they've made it their mission to drive Annie out.

    As Anne settles into her tower room at Windy Poplars with the widows Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty, she finds she has more allies than she knows. And letters from her dear Gilbert Blythe help her remember that with a little bit of imagination, she can triumph over anything...

    Through Anne's eyes, the ordinary world becomes magical and every day is an adventure. It's no surprise she is a favorite of everyone from Mark Twain to Duchess Kate.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateFeb 4, 2014
    ISBN9781402289071
    Author

    L. M. Montgomery

    L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery (1874-1942) was a Canadian author who published 20 novels and hundreds of short stories, poems, and essays. She is best known for the Anne of Green Gables series. Montgomery was born in Clifton (now New London) on Prince Edward Island on November 30, 1874. Raised by her maternal grandparents, she grew up in relative isolation and loneliness, developing her creativity with imaginary friends and dreaming of becoming a published writer. Her first book, Anne of Green Gables, was published in 1908 and was an immediate success, establishing Montgomery's career as a writer, which she continued for the remainder of her life.

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    Reviews for Anne of Windy Poplars

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    • 3/5
      This has always been my least favourite book in the Anne series. I think it is because much of the book is told through the letters Anne writes to Gilbert, and I soon lost interest in them. I also think Gilbert should have had a stronger voice. More letters from him to Anne would have been beneficial.I also wasn't keen on the new characters introduced in this book. There were too many of them, and I felt most didn't have a significant role to play. Overall, I found "Anne of Windy Willows" a disappointing read, but I am still keen to continue the series. I do like Anne the more she matures.
    • 3/5
      This wasn't my favorite book in the series. I wasn't a huge fan of the letters.
    • 2/5
      This is my least favorite of all the series, I think. It took me 3 tries before I could even finish it for the first time!! :( It is informative from a literary standpoint to watch how Montgomery unfolds the story through letters --from Anne, so they are from her perspective, which is completely new to the series-- through the entire first 2/3 of the book! But it can get a little boring, and I almost always get bogged down.
    • 4/5
      Anne of Windy Poplars, the fourth book in the Anne of Green Gables series tells the story of Ann's adventures as a teacher in Summerside during the three years prior to her marriage to Gilbert Blythe. I liked this book better than some of the other installments, but missed hearing about the familiar characters of Prince Edward Island, since this book mostly takes place away from Anne's home. As always, L.M. Montgomery has populated her book with memorable and interesting characters -- and the stories are so realistic they seem true to life. The is just another book in a wonderful series.
    • 5/5
      My memory of Anne of Windy Poplars is.. non-existent. It's been so long since I've read the books and I see the PBS movies (which are wonderful in their own right) once or twice throughout the year, so it's easy to forget that Anne of Avonlea (the movie edition) is a mix-match of several books in the series.In Anne of Windy Poplars the dreaded Pringles make their appearance. And it's oh so much more than the movie shows. They are so dreadful, each and every one of them, but everything else is an absolute delight. Windy Poplars, Rebecca Dew, Little Elizabeth and most of all - a character we rarely get to see in the book, Gilbert Blythe.Wait, how can Gilbert be so wonderful? He's hardly in the book! I'll tell you why - because this book shows the reader just how beautiful love letters can be.A good portion of Anne of Windy Poplars is composed of Anne's letters to "her dearest of dears" and they are so tender and sweet and filled with so much news and juicy tidbits and sweetness (with just the right amount of "pages omitted") that it set the romantic in me a-fluttering. Anne is learning how to be in love, something we see all too rarely in girls literature today. She has to be patient, to wait to make a life with the one her heart has chosen, but she does it so sweetly it's impossible not to feel the excitement. Romance doesn't need to be rushed. One doesn't need to spend all of ones time before the wedding crushed up against his or her chosen. Anne learns that absence sweetens the deal and her dreams grow because of it. And, in the process, sets aside a beautiful history to share with her own children.Today we write emails and tweet to one another and love letters such as those in this book are a thing of the past. But they don't have to be - and if you need inspiration, pick up this book.
    • 5/5
      When I read this at first as a young teen, I didn't like it. I would skip it when I re-read the series. After I re-read the whole series (without skipping this one) about five years ago, though, I began to wonder exactly why I hadn't liked it. The novel provides interesting pictures into the lives of others as Anne comes into contact with them. The epistolary portions are also pleasant as they really feel as if they were written by Anne herself and as such, I felt more bonded to her than I had before. There are such rich "side-"characters in this that I would rank it among my favorites. It is sweet and poignant, and showcases the epistolary style that I don't think Montgomery used nearly enough.
    • 3/5
      For me this book is the beginning of the end of the series. I loved the first few books, but this book was a little boring and it doesn't get any better.
    • 5/5
      Things move on apace in Anne's world and this installment of the series finds her as headmistress of a high school and living in a house called Windy Poplars. This book deals more with Anne's relationship to Gilbert and her impending marriage and is written in epistolary form.A slight departure from the previous books it focuses solely on Anne's experience from a first person point of view.It's not my favourite, but it deserves full marks. And the next novel picks things up again properly.
    • 2/5
      This is the boring-est of the books, probably because it has so little actual romance and is mostly just letters.:D
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorites in Montgomery's body of work, and in particular in this series. This novel is also published as "Anne of Windy Willows" in the UK. It was one of the last ones of the series written, but the fourth one in the series chronologically. It's easy to tell it was written later in her writing career because the voice and writing quality are much more polished. The plotting is tighter, and it has to be to get Anne through this difficult period. This is the time of life that, in the era this takes place, is very difficult for women. It's after graduation from college, working, but before marriage. Considering most women didn't attend college in Anne's day, and that it was highly controversial for them to do so, I'm not at all surprised that Montgomery left this chapter of Anne's life until later to write. She pulled it off with grace, finesse, and a good dose of humor.
    • 3/5
      This book really disappointed me in comparison to the earlier Anne books. Montgomery tries a new epistolary style in this book, writing most of the chapters as letters from Anne to Gilbert. There is never any reply, lending the stories a dull, one-sided feel, and the passages are occasionally interrupted by authorial comments like "(two pages omitted here)" where Anne is ostensibly writing her private romantic thoughts to her beloved. The letters just don't work as a narrative device, being especially annoying to the modern reader in their use of quotation marks at the beginning of every paragraph, with additional internal quotation marks for actual dialogue, and Montgomery further disrupts her attempts at a new literary technique by reverting to the omniscient narrator perspective for several chapters. Anne seems to meet someone brand new in almost every chapter, but doesn't form very deep attachments with that many people, and the reader is given little to no hint of her having any meaningful communication with old characters during her visits home. Montgomery misses the opportunity to derive a meaningful narrative thread from the three years during which Anne must work and wait before marrying Gilbert, thus lending the unfortunate impression that Anne is just another grown woman with nothing to do but sit around and wait to be married. It feels as if Montgomery ended her previous novel in what she felt was the most romantic possible fashion, and then didn't know how to deal with the separation she had imposed on her main characters. Perhaps this book was a literary experiment of sorts. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
    • 4/5
      First published in 1936, L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Windy Poplars was originally styled Anne of Windy Willows, a name that Montgomery herself changed, at the request of her American publishers, who felt that it bore too close a resemblance to Kenneth Grahame's classic animal fantasy, The Wind in the Willows. Montgomery's English publishers, oddly enough, had no such worry, and thinking that their readers would be unfamiliar with poplars, retained the original title. So it is that American and Canadian readers know the book as Anne of Windy Poplars, and British, Australian and New Zealand readers as Anne of Windy Willows. I understand that there were also some scenes that were cut by Montgomery, once again at the behest of her American publishers, that were retained in Anne of Windy Willows, and hope to track down a copy of that other version of the story, at some point, and acquaint myself with the differences.However that may be, it is Anne of Windy Poplars that I have just reread (for the umpteenth time), a book that is currently considered the fourth entry in the "Anne" series, although it was written and published seventh. Chronicling the three years between the events of Anne of the Island (1915), which sees Anne attending Redmond College, and Anne's House of Dreams (1917), in which Anne Shirley becomes Anne Blythe, and embarks upon the first years of married life, it is the tale of Anne's days as the Principal of Summerside High School, and her time as a boarder at Windy Poplars, the home of those two endearingly quirky widows, Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty.Alternating between the epistolary form, in which events unfold in Anne's letters to Gilbert (away at medical school), and third person narration, it feels rather episodic, when compared to some of Anne's other books, but is still immensely appealing - full of entertaining characters and incident, as well as a most engaging heroine. I loved Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty's method of dealing with their sometimes recalcitrant (but always goodhearted) maid, Rebecca Dew (reverse psychology with a vengeance!); I loved Anne's battles with, and eventual conquest of the proud Pringle clan (cannibalism - the horror!); and, having a fondness for difficult people, I loved Anne's evolving relationship with the prickly Katherine Brooke. In short, I loved Anne of Windy Poplars (as I always do), and although there were certain elements I found less than thrilling (I could have lived without the entire Hazel Marr episode), my overall pleasure more than compensated. Highly recommended to any reader who has read the first three Anne books, and wants to continue the journey!
    • 4/5
      While Gilbert attends medical school, Anne spends the three years of their engagement as the principal of the high school in Summerside. As she works against the prejudices of the locally influential family of the Pringles, she finds kindred spirits aplenty and gets into the kinds of scrapes only Anne can manage.Not my favourite entry in the series thus far but I still thoroughly enjoyed these more episodic tales of Anne's adventures. I did love the more epistolary style of this novel as about half of it are excerpts of Anne's letters to Gilbert. I'd complain that there isn't enough Gilbert in this novel but I have a feeling I'll get plenty of him in the next book.
    • 4/5
      This book was not as tedious as I thought it would be, and I zipped along pretty quickly. All of Anne's "adventures" are starting to run together. How many cranky old ladies has she won over with her charm now? 30? 40? I believe she's going to get married in the next book so we'll see if that changes things up a bit.
    • 3/5
      It seems that the books (with the exception of Rilla of Ingleside) weaken as the series goes on, and this one is definitely weaker than its three predecessors. It seems like a collection of short stories, each with a problem to be solved and with Anne solving the problem rather quickly. Also, the sometimes-epistolary style, with Anne becoming the first-person narrator, tends for some reason to distance us from Anne, perhaps because it lacks the wryness of Montgomery's third-person narration. Also, unlike the previous three novels, Anne shows little growth in Windy Poplars, where she displays a great deal of "busy-bodiness" in other people's lives, is aware of it, but does little to improve on this habit.
    • 5/5
      Montgomery always amazes me by how life like her characters are, her descriptions of them and Anne's opinion of them always makes me feel like I am meeting a new person. Also the characters could stand on their own, without having the main character. In this book we find Anne fighting to be accepted as a school principal/teacher in a small town that is full of Pringles and half Pringles. Through her challenges we meet a whole new cast of characters. My favorite new character that we meet in this book is Katherine Brooke. Montgomery shows through her character of Katherine that you can never tell why people are the way they are without digging deeper and really trying hard to get to know them. Sometimes those with the prickliest skin, tend to have the softest heart and/or have been truly hurt and neglected. I like how through Anne, Montgomery encourages her readers to get out and meet new people, and that you can never really tell about a person until you talk with them.
    • 4/5
      4th in the series, and not always included in anthologies. In this one, most of Anne's writing is in the form of letters to her fiance, Gilbert, as she describes her three years as a teacher/principal in Summerside PEI, and the townfolk.
    • 4/5
      While Gilbert finishes medical school, Anne is invited to be the principal of a high school in Summerside. She faces one seemingly insurmountable problem immediately: the Pringles, a venerable and large family. The Pringles have influence over all that happens in the town, and they are upset because Anne was not their first choice; a cousin of theirs was. But she has allies in the kindly widows who allow her to board, Aunt Chatty and Aunt Kate, along with Rebecca Dew, the housekeeper. What follows is a series of vignettes about Anne's dealings with the school and the people of the town, but a common thread goes throughout: her fate is largely determined by the Pringles, and Anne is just as determined to win them over. Part of "Anne of Windy Poplars" consists of Anne's letters to Gilbert, and the author judiciously omits the more sentimental passages of the letters. This book was written seventh in the series of eight books, so it definitely seems to lose a little continuity, and might rightly be considered a companion piece rather than book five of the series. And it is probably not Ms. Montgomery's best work in the Anne of Green Gables series, though it may fit in better with her other lesser-known collections of short stories. It seems to drag in parts, and I kept wanting to skip through to the "good" sections. However, I faithfully read through it and was glad to be done and on to the next book, "Anne's House of Dreams", that has better "flow".
    • 4/5
      the next saga of Anne's life. She's moved into a home by the name of Windy Poplars on Spook's Lane with two old widows and a helper. She's a principal at the high school while Gilbert is away at medical school and they write letters to each other and pine away. Montgomery introduces us to another set of interesting characters - it's such good fun.
    • 4/5
      Anne of Windy Poplars is the fourth book in the Anne series, and this one is told in epistolary style as Anne has become the principal of Summerside High School and is writing letters to her finance Gilbert while he is in medical school. This book covers the three years that the two have to wait until Gilbert becomes a doctor and they are able to marry. Windy Poplars is the home that Annie is boarding in. Owned by two widows and run by a salt-of-the-earth housekeeper, Anne arrives like a breath of spring air. Along with these women, Anne makes other friends in and around Summerside and is able in her own winning way to bring happiness and change into many lives. This book comes to an end as Anne returns home to Green Gables knowing in a very short while she will finally become Mrs. Gilbert Blyth.I was a little disappointed with Anne of Windy Poplars as much of the story felt repetitious and Anne seemed a little too perfect. I missed the Anne that often make mistakes and learned life lessons from her errors. I found the author seemed more moralistic and a little preach-y in this volume. I also missed the great descriptive writing about the passing of the seasons that I have enjoyed in the previous three volumes. I note that this book is often the one missing from boxed sets of the Anne of Green Gables series, and I also know that although it is the fourth book in chronological order, it was actually the seventh one to be published.
    • 4/5
      Anne of Windy Poplars was a delight to read. The book is comprised of letters written by Anne and third-person narrative. As with the other Anne books, we meet some wonderful new characters and become reaquainted with old ones. There is a hilarious dinner scene which definately made me laugh out loud in public.
    • 5/5
      Anne spends 3 years as the Principal of Summerside and we learn of all the goings-on in her life through the letters she writes to her fiance, Gilbert.As I've discovered, all things "Anne" really do work out for the best and no situation - regardless of how bad it seems at first, will eventually work out. To that end, I find myself questioning why I continue to read these books. Why do I find them so entertaining? They are so "polyanna" that there is little in the way of true drama because everything does come up roses.The only answer I have is that I have grown quite fond of the character. She is a dreamer, a believer of fantasy and imagination, and someone who always looks to the positives of life. These are all things that are quite dear to me as well. On top of that, I have to admit that we are introduced to a large array of characters each with their own little quirks that makes them "real" and interesting to read.I've often remarked that reading these "Anne" books was like catching up with an old friend. The format of this particular novel is very much like that. A comforting read.
    • 3/5
      I become frustrated by the over-fanciful language and the reliance on episodic "vignettes" that are often too sweet or too pat. But then comes a moment of pure magic - a sudden jewel of a line. And some of the characterisations become more than clever pen portraits, becoming real and believable. It is also a wonderful reminder on the importance of gratitude in life.
    • 4/5
      Some hilarious characters appear in this book - though some of them could have done with more fleshing-out.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed Anne's letters in this book and getting to hear from her perspective instead of the narrators.
    • 4/5
      This is a charming chronicle of Anne's three years of principalship before she marries. Of all the faerie-like children she writes, Elizabeth is easily the most charming and winsome. And of course, Rebecca Dew is a most enjoyable secondary character.
    • 5/5
      It’s easy to see why this series has staying power, even in today’s high-tech world. The characters are rich in their development and the plot remains interesting and entertaining. There is an ample amount of humor as well as some heart-wrenching moments. This audio version was especially delightful.
    • 4/5
      Anne of Windy Poplars is the fourth installment of the Anne of Green Gables series. It is mostly set in a city called Summerside. Anne has left Redmond College to begin a job as principal of Summerside High School. She ends up staying in a place called “Windy Poplars” with two widows and an old maid. Throughout the story Anne has to face winning the affections of the Pringle family, solving marital problems between her friends, and helping a little girl named Elizabeth find laughter in the world.As with the rest of the series, this book is a thrilling read, with sorrows and triumphs. I feel that this book is missing something that the others have (it is probably the absence of Gilbert, who rarely shows up in this book), but it is fun and exciting all the same. I would recommend this book to all fans of Anne of Green Gables, as well as to those who are simply looking for laughter and magic in their life.
    • 3/5
      Anne Shirley has graduated from college and has signed on as Principal of a school in Summerside, across the island from her beloved Green Gables. Once again she needs to make friends, and convert the potential enemies of the town who begrudge this young woman her responsible position.

      I love Anne – who wouldn’t, she’s so optimistic, kind and straightforward. I was pleased to see that the book opens as a letter from Anne to Gilbert, and I was looking forward to an epistolary novel. However, Montgomery interspersed several chapters written in third-person narrative. I understand that what she described in those sections would be difficult to convey in a letter format, but I felt that the switching back and forth in style detracted from the book.

      I think I may have reached my limit with this series. Book four felt repetitive and formulaic to me, as if I were marking time along with Anne until she reunites with Gilbert and her life story really moves forward. I can’t bring myself to rate it lower than 3 stars, however, because I like the character so much, and I did enjoy her efforts at matchmaking.
    • 5/5
      In Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne and Gilbert are now engaged (finally!) and Anne accepts a principalship at a prestigious girls' school while Gilbert is finishing his medical degree. Summerside High is an old school, in an old, proud town full of Pringles. The Pringle clan runs everything in Kingsport, and when they decide they don't like Anne because she beat out a cousin of theirs for the position, they embark on a campaign of subtle persecution which Anne's sensitive spirit feels keenly. Things come to such a pass that Anne is afraid she will lose her position, for how can she reason with prejudice? With each new novel, Montgomery introduces new and delightful characters to add spice to the story and keep things from getting flat. The widows with whom Anne lodges, Aunt Chatty and Aunt Kate, and their servant Rebecca Dew are fun each in her own way. The buttermilk secret always makes me laugh. And I do love Katherine Brooke. She is decidedly different from Anne's other friends; the only comparable character in the series would probably be Nora Nelson... though there are hints of Leslie Ford as well, come to think of it. One new character I'm not a big fan of is Elizabeth. She just seems too precocious and perfect to me. I think Montgomery wrote Elizabeth as a facet of herself; during her childhood she lived with her strict grandparents and her experiences with them might have been similar. Interestingly, Elizabeth's grandmother and servant do not soften or change by the end of the story. Elizabeth escapes, but the prison itself does not disappear. Another thing I enjoy about this story is its epistolary nature. The only complaint I would make is that it would be nice to see some of Gilbert's letters to Anne. But I suppose they wouldn't be half so interesting or funny! Although this isn't the first book I think of when I try to name my favorites among the series, it has so many brilliant little stories... Anne's day with the onerous invalid Mrs. Gibson, the disastrous dinner with sulky Cyrus Taylor, the affair of the play, Rebecca Dew's flowery but sincere goodbye note, Cousin Ernestine Bugle's dolorously hilarious visit, etc. This book is a joy to read and I'm so thankful that the Anne stories — wholesome, hilarious, wonderful — influenced me so much in my teen years. I think Anne makes me a better person.

    Book preview

    Anne of Windy Poplars - L. M. Montgomery

    Copyright © 2011 Heirs of L. M. Montgomery Inc.

    Introduction copyright © 2014 by Kate Macdonald Butler

    Cover and internal design © 2014 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

    Cover design by The Book Designers

    Cover illustration by Jacqui Oakley, jacquioakley.com

    L. M. Montgomery is a trademark of Heirs of L. M. Montgomery Inc.

    Anne of Green Gables and other indicia of Anne are trademarks and Canadian official marks of the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority Inc., located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

    Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

    The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

    Published by Sourcebooks Fire, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.

    P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

    (630) 961-3900

    Fax: (630) 961-2168

    teenfire.sourcebooks.com

    Original copyright © 1936 Frederick A. Stokes Company (USA).

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.

    Contents

    Front Cover

    Title Page

    Copyright

    Introduction

    The First Year

    Chapter 1

    Chapter 2

    Chapter 3

    Chapter 4

    Chapter 5

    Chapter 6

    Chapter 7

    Chapter 8

    Chapter 9

    Chapter 10

    Chapter 11

    Chapter 12

    Chapter 13

    Chapter 14

    Chapter 15

    Chapter 16

    Chapter 17

    The Second Year

    Chapter 18

    Chapter 19

    Chapter 20

    Chapter 21

    Chapter 22

    Chapter 23

    Chapter 24

    Chapter 25

    Chapter 26

    Chapter 27

    Chapter 28

    Chapter 29

    Chapter 30

    The Third Year

    Chapter 31

    Chapter 32

    Chapter 33

    Chapter 34

    Chapter 35

    Chapter 36

    Chapter 37

    Chapter 38

    Chapter 39

    Chapter 40

    Chapter 41

    Chapter 42

    Chapter 43

    Chapter 44

    About the Author

    About the Cover

    Back Cover

    Introduction

    When Leah Hultenschmidt, editorial manager of Sourcebooks, Inc., approached me to write an introduction to the new trade paperback and ebook editions of the Anne of Green Gables series written by my grandmother, L. M. Montgomery, I was delighted to oblige.

    Written in 1908, Anne of Green Gables has never been out of print, has sold over 50 million copies, and my family has authorized many translations of this beloved novel.

    You might not know that Anne of Green Gables was rejected five times when my grandmother first sent out the manuscript to publishers. After the last rejection, she writes of putting the manuscript away in a hat box and, upon reading it a year later and deciding that it didn’t seem so very bad…I’ll try once more, she sent it to the prominent Boston publisher, L.C. Page. He promptly wrote back with an offer to publish the book and a further offer for her to write several Anne sequels. Legend has it that a secretary from L.C. Page’s office was from Prince Edward Island and was instrumental in getting the American publisher to have a look at this charming manuscript from a fellow Islander.

    I read these books as a youngster and I read them all again as an adult, although the second time with a lump in my throat. It was a very different experience re-reading these books knowing so much more about my grandmother’s private and sometimes very lonely life. I found many parallels between Anne Shirley’s early life and L. M. Montgomery’s early life, who, in effect was an orphan raised by very strict grandparents without much whimsy or frivolity. I hope that the endearing character of Anne Shirley, who reveled in nature and justice, who developed passionate friendships and received the affections of ardent suitors, was based on some reality from my grandmother’s life as a young woman.

    Anne of Green Gables still tops literary lists throughout the world as one of the favourite books of all times. It has been made into several film versions, both live action and animated, and has been adapted as Anne of Green Gables – The Musical, one of the most successful, and longest-running musical stage plays in the world. In Canada, L. M. Montgomery has been declared a person of National Historic Significance, and there are L. M. Montgomery Gardens, L. M. Montgomery societies, an L. M. Montgomery Institute, and several L. M. Montgomery Museums and Archival Collections.

    On behalf of the heirs of L. M. Montgomery, I have traveled around the world attending events in Canada, USA, Australia, Japan, China, and Sweden—all of which celebrate both Anne of Green Gables and L. M. Montgomery. I would love to tell my grandmother how popular the Anne books continue to be and how her novels are available in both the traditional trade book format and the remarkable new world of electronic books via Sourcebooks. She would be pleased and possibly astonished to know that Anne of Green Gables continues to enchant both returning readers and a new generation who are discovering her novels for the first time. Enjoy!

    Kate Macdonald Butler

    Granddaughter of L. M. Montgomery

    May, 2013

    THE FIRST YEAR

    CHAPTER 1

    (Letter from Anne Shirley, B.A., Principal of Summerside High School, to Gilbert Blythe, medical student at Redmond College, Kingsport.)

    Windy Poplars,

    Spook’s Lane,

    S’side, P. E. I.,

    Monday, September 12th.

    Dearest:

    Isn’t that an address! Did you ever hear anything so delicious? Windy Poplars is the name of my new home and I love it. I also love Spook’s Lane, which has no legal existence. It should be Trent Street but it is never called Trent Street except on the rare occasions when it is mentioned in the Weekly Courier…and then people look at each other and say, Where on earth is that? Spook’s Lane it is…although for what reason I cannot tell you. I have already asked Rebecca Dew about it, but all she can say is that it has always been Spook’s Lane and there was some old yarn years ago of its being haunted. But she has never seen anything worse-looking than herself in it.

    However, I mustn’t get ahead of my story. You don’t know Rebecca Dew yet. But you will, oh, yes, you will. I foresee that Rebecca Dew will figure largely in my future correspondence.

    It’s dusk, dearest. (In passing, isn’t dusk a lovely word? I like it better than twilight. It sounds so velvety and shadowy and…and…dusky.) In daylight I belong to the world…in the night to sleep and eternity. But in the dusk I’m free from both and belong only to myself…and you. So I’m going to keep this hour sacred to writing to you. Though this won’t be a love-letter. I have a scratchy pen and I can’t write love-letters with a scratchy pen…or a sharp pen…or a stub pen. So you’ll only get that kind of letter from me when I have exactly the right kind of pen. Meanwhile, I’ll tell you about my new domicile and its inhabitants. Gilbert, they’re such dears.

    I came up yesterday to look for a boarding-house. Mrs. Rachel Lynde came with me, ostensibly to do some shopping but really, I know, to choose a boarding-house for me. In spite of my Arts course and my B.A., Mrs. Lynde still thinks I am an inexperienced young thing who must be guided and directed and overseen.

    We came by train and oh, Gilbert, I had the funniest adventure. You know I’ve always been one to whom adventures came unsought. I just seem to attract them, as it were.

    It happened just as the train was coming to a stop at the station. I got up and, stooping to pick up Mrs. Lynde’s suitcase (she was planning to spend Sunday with a friend in Summerside), I leaned my knuckles heavily on what I thought was the shiny arm of a seat. In a second I received a violent crack across them that nearly made me howl. Gilbert, what I had taken for the arm of a seat was a man’s bald head. He was glaring fiercely at me and had evidently just waked up. I apologized abjectly and got off the train as quickly as possible. The last I saw of him he was still glaring. Mrs. Lynde was horrified and my knuckles are sore yet!

    I did not expect to have much trouble in finding a boarding-house, for a certain Mrs. Tom Pringle has been boarding the various principals of the High School for the last fifteen years. But, for some unknown reason, she has grown suddenly tired of being bothered and wouldn’t take me. Several other desirable places had some polite excuse. Several other places weren’t desirable. We wandered about the town the whole afternoon and got hot and tired and blue and headachy…at least I did. I was ready to give up in despair…and then, Spook’s Lane just happened!

    We had dropped in to see Mrs. Braddock, an old crony of Mrs. Lynde’s. And Mrs. Braddock said she thought the widows might take me in.

    "I’ve heard they want a boarder to pay Rebecca Dew’s wages. They can’t afford to keep Rebecca any longer unless a little extra money comes in. And if Rebecca goes, who is to milk that old red cow?"

    Mrs. Braddock fixed me with a stern eye as if she thought I ought to milk the red cow but wouldn’t believe me on oath if I claimed I could.

    What widows are you talking about? demanded Mrs. Lynde.

    Why, Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty, said Mrs. Braddock, as if everybody, even an ignorant B.A., ought to know that. Aunt Kate is Mrs. Amasa MacComber (she’s the Captain’s widow) and Aunt Chatty is Mrs. Lincoln MacLean, just a plain widow. But everyone calls them ‘aunt.’ They live at the end of Spook’s Lane.

    Spook’s Lane! That settled it. I knew I just had to board with the widows.

    Let’s go and see them at once, I implored Mrs. Lynde. It seemed to me if we lost a moment Spook’s Lane would vanish back into fairyland.

    You can see them but it’ll be Rebecca who’ll really decide whether they’ll take you or not. Rebecca Dew rules the roost at Windy Poplars, I can tell you.

    Windy Poplars! It couldn’t be true…no it couldn’t. I must be dreaming. And Mrs. Rachel Lynde was actually saying it was a funny name for a place.

    Oh, Captain MacComber called it that. It was his house, you know. He planted all the poplars round it and was mighty proud of it, though he was seldom home and never stayed long. Aunt Kate used to say that was inconvenient, but we never got it figured out whether she meant his staying such a little time or his coming back at all. Well, Miss Shirley, I hope you’ll get there. Rebecca Dew’s a good cook and a genius with cold potatoes. If she takes a notion to you you’ll be in clover. If she doesn’t…well, she won’t, that’s all. I hear there’s a new banker in town looking for a boarding-house and she may prefer him. It’s kind of funny Mrs. Tom Pringle wouldn’t take you. Summerside is full of Pringles and half Pringles. They’re called The Royal Family and you’ll have to get on their good side, Miss Shirley, or you’ll never get along in Summerside High. They’ve always ruled the roost hereabouts…there’s a street called after old Captain Abraham Pringle. There’s a regular clan of them, but the two old ladies at Maplehurst boss the tribe. I did hear they were down on you.

    Why should they be? I exclaimed. I’m a total stranger to them.

    "Well, a third cousin of theirs applied for the Principalship and they all think he should have got it. When your application was accepted the whole kit and boodle of them threw back their heads and howled. Well, people are like that. We have to take them as we find them, you know. They’ll be as smooth as cream to you but they’ll work against you every time. I’m not wanting to discourage you but forewarned is forearmed. I hope you’ll make good just to spite them. If the widows take you, you won’t mind eating with Rebecca Dew, will you? She isn’t a servant, you know. She’s a far-off cousin of the Captain’s. She doesn’t come to the table when there’s company…she knows her place then…but if you were boarding there she wouldn’t consider you company, of course."

    I assured the anxious Mrs. Braddock that I’d love eating with Rebecca Dew and dragged Mrs. Lynde away. I must get ahead of the banker.

    Mrs. Braddock followed us to the door.

    "And don’t hurt Aunt Chatty’s feelings, will you? Her feelings are so easily hurt. She’s so sensitive, poor thing. You see, she hasn’t quite as much money as Aunt Kate…though Aunt Kate hasn’t any too much either. And then Aunt Kate liked her husband real well…her own husband, I mean…but Aunt Chatty didn’t…didn’t like hers, I mean. Small wonder! Lincoln MacLean was an old crank…but she thinks people hold it against her. It’s lucky this is Saturday. If it was Friday Aunt Chatty wouldn’t even consider taking you. You’d think Aunt Kate would be the superstitious one, wouldn’t you? Sailors are kind of like that. But it’s Aunt Chatty…although her husband was a carpenter. She was very pretty in her day, poor thing."

    I assured Mrs. Braddock that Aunt Chatty’s feelings would be sacred to me, but she followed us down the walk.

    Kate and Chatty won’t explore your belongings when you’re out. They’re very conscientious. Rebecca Dew may, but she won’t tell on you. And I wouldn’t go to the front door if I was you. They only use it for something real important. I don’t think it’s been opened since Amasa’s funeral. Try the side door. They keep the key under the flowerpot on the windowsill, so if nobody’s home just unlock the door and go in and wait. And whatever you do, don’t praise the cat, because Rebecca Dew doesn’t like him.

    I promised I wouldn’t praise the cat and we actually got away. Erelong we found ourselves in Spook’s Lane. It is a very short side street, leading out to open country, and far away a blue hill makes a beautiful back-drop for it. On one side there are no houses at all and the land slopes down to the harbor. On the other side there are only three. The first one is just a house…nothing more to be said of it. The next one is a big, imposing, gloomy mansion of stone-trimmed red brick, with a mansard roof warty with dormer-windows, an iron railing around the flat top and so many spruces and firs crowding about it that you can hardly see the house. It must be frightfully dark inside. And the third and last is Windy Poplars right on the corner, with the grass-grown street on the front and a real country road, beautiful with tree shadows, on the other side.

    I fell in love with it at once. You know there are houses which impress themselves upon you at first sight for some reason you can hardly define. Windy Poplars is like that. I may describe it to you as a white frame house…very white…with green shutters…very green…with a tower in the corner and a dormer-window on either side, a low stone wall dividing it from the street, with aspen poplars growing at intervals along it, and a big garden at the back where flowers and vegetables are delightfully jumbled up together…but all this can’t convey its charm to you. In short, it is a house with a delightful personality and has something of the flavor of Green Gables about it.

    This is the spot for me…it’s been foreordained, I said rapturously.

    Mrs. Lynde looked as if she didn’t quite trust foreordination.

    It’ll be a long walk to school, she said dubiously.

    I don’t mind that. It will be good exercise. Oh, look at that lovely birch and maple grove across the road.

    Mrs. Lynde looked but all she said was, I hope you won’t be pestered with mosquitoes.

    I hoped so, too. I detest mosquitoes. One mosquito can keep me awaker than a bad conscience.

    I was glad we didn’t have to go in by the front door. It looked so forbidding…a big, double-leaved, grained-wood affair, flanked by panels of red, flowered glass. It doesn’t seem to belong to the house at all. The little green side door, which we reached by a darling path of thin, flat sandstones sunk at intervals in the grass, was much more friendly and inviting. The path was edged by very prim, well-ordered beds of ribbon grass and bleeding-heart and tiger lilies and sweet-William and southernwood and bride’s bouquet and red-and-white daisies and what Mrs. Lynde calls pinies. Of course they weren’t all in bloom at this season, but you could see they had bloomed at the proper time and done it well. There was a rose plot in a far corner and between Windy Poplars and the gloomy house next a brick wall all overgrown with Virginia creeper, with an arched trellis above a faded green door in the middle of it. A vine ran right across it, so it was plain it hadn’t been opened for some time. It was really only half a door, for its top half is merely an open oblong through which we could catch a glimpse of a jungly garden on the other side.

    Just as we entered the gate of the garden of Windy Poplars I noticed a little clump of clover right by the path. Some impulse led me to stoop down and look at it. Would you believe it, Gilbert? There, right before my eyes, were three four-leafed clovers! Talk about omens! Even the Pringles can’t contend against that. And I felt sure the banker hadn’t an earthly chance.

    The side door was open so it was evident somebody was at home and we didn’t have to look under the flowerpot. We knocked and Rebecca Dew came to the door. We knew it was Rebecca Dew because it couldn’t have been anyone else in the whole wide world. And she couldn’t have had any other name.

    Rebecca Dew is around forty and if a tomato had black hair racing away from its forehead, little twinkling black eyes, a tiny nose with a knobby end and a slit of a mouth, it would look exactly like her. Everything about her is a little too short…arms and legs and neck and nose…everything but her smile. It is long enough to reach from ear to ear.

    But we didn’t see her smile just then. She looked very grim when I asked if I could see Mrs. MacComber.

    "You mean Mrs. Captain MacComber?" she said rebukingly, as if there were at least a dozen Mrs. MacCombers in the house.

    Yes, I said meekly. And we were forthwith ushered into the parlor and left there. It was rather a nice little room, a bit cluttered up with antimacassars but with a quiet, friendly atmosphere about it that I liked. Every bit of furniture had its own particular place which it had occupied for years. How that furniture shone! No bought polish ever produced that mirror-like gloss. I knew it was Rebecca Dew’s elbow grease. There was a full-rigged ship in a bottle on the mantelpiece which interested Mrs. Lynde greatly. She couldn’t imagine how it ever got into the bottle…but she thought it gave the room a nautical air.

    The widows came in. I liked them at once. Aunt Kate was tall and thin and gray, and a little austere…Marilla’s type exactly; and Aunt Chatty was short and thin and gray, and a little wistful. She may have been very pretty once but nothing is now left of her beauty except her eyes. They are lovely…soft and big and brown.

    I explained my errand and the widows looked at each other.

    We must consult Rebecca Dew, said Aunt Chatty.

    Undoubtedly, said Aunt Kate.

    Rebecca Dew was accordingly summoned from the kitchen. The cat came in with her…a big fluffy Maltese, with a white breast and a white collar. I should have liked to stroke him, but, remembering Mrs. Braddock’s warning, I ignored him.

    Rebecca gazed at me without the glimmer of a smile.

    Rebecca, said Aunt Kate, who, I have discovered, does not waste words, Miss Shirley wishes to board here. I don’t think we can take her.

    Why not? said Rebecca Dew.

    It would be too much trouble for you, I am afraid, said Aunt Chatty.

    I’m well used to trouble, said Rebecca Dew. You can’t separate those names, Gilbert. It’s impossible…though the widows do it. They call her Rebecca when they speak to her. I don’t know how they manage it.

    We are rather old to have young people coming and going, persisted Aunt Chatty.

    Speak for yourself, retorted Rebecca Dew. "I’m only forty-five and I still have the use of my faculties. And I think it would be nice to have a young person sleeping in the house. A girl would be better than a boy any time. He’d be smoking day and night…burn us in our beds. If you must take a boarder, my advice would be to take her. But of course it’s your house."

    She said and vanished…as Homer was so fond of remarking. I knew the whole thing was settled but Aunt Chatty said I must go up and see if I was suited with my room.

    We will give you the tower room, dear. It’s not quite as large as the spare room, but it has a stove-pipe hole for a stove in winter and a much nicer view. You can see the old graveyard from it.

    I knew I would love the room…the very name, tower room, thrilled me. I felt as if we were living in that old song we used to sing in Avonlea School about the maiden who dwelt in a high tower beside a gray sea. It proved to be the dearest place. We ascended to it by a little flight of corner steps leading up from the stair-landing. It was rather small…but not nearly as small as that dreadful hall bedroom I had my first year at Redmond. It had two windows, a dormer one looking west and a gable one looking north, and in the corner formed by the tower another three-sided window with casements opening outward and shelves underneath for my books. The floor was covered with round, braided rugs, the big bed had a canopy top and a wild-goose quilt and looked so perfectly smooth and level that it seemed a shame to spoil it by sleeping in it. And, Gilbert, it is so high that I have to climb into it by a funny little movable set of steps which in daytime are stowed away under it. It seems Captain MacComber bought the whole contraption in some foreign place and brought it home.

    There was a dear little corner cupboard with shelves trimmed with white scalloped paper and bouquets painted on its door. There was a round blue cushion on the window-seat…a cushion with a button deep in the center, making it look like a fat blue doughnut. And there was a sweet washstand with two shelves…the top one just big enough for a basin and jug of robin’s-egg blue and the under one for a soap dish and hot water pitcher. It had a little brass-handled drawer full of towels and on a shelf over it a white china lady sat, with pink shoes and gilt sash and a red china rose in her golden china hair.

    The whole place was engoldened by the light that came through the corn-colored curtains and there was the rarest tapestry on the whitewashed walls where the shadow patterns of the aspens outside fell…living tapestry, always changing and quivering. Somehow, it seemed such a happy room. I felt as if I were the richest girl in the world.

    You’ll be safe there, that’s what, said Mrs. Lynde, as we went away.

    I expect I’ll find some things a bit cramping after the freedom of Patty’s Place, I said, just to tease her.

    Freedom! Mrs. Lynde sniffed. Freedom! Don’t talk like a Yankee, Anne.

    I came up today, bag and baggage. Of course I hated to leave Green Gables. No matter how often and long I’m away from it, the minute a vacation comes I’m part of it again as if I had never been away, and my heart is torn over leaving it. But I know I’ll like it here. And it likes me. I always know whether a house likes me or not.

    The views from my windows are lovely…even the old graveyard, which is surrounded by a row of dark fir trees and reached by a winding, dyke-bordered lane. From my west window I can see all over the harbor to distant, misty shores, with the dear little sail-boats I love and the ships outward bound for ports unknown…fascinating phrase! Such scope for imagination in it! From the north window I can see into the grove of birch and maple across the road. You know I’ve always been a tree worshiper. When we studied Tennyson in our English course at Redmond I was always sorrowfully at one with poor Enone, mourning her ravished pines.

    Beyond the grove and the graveyard is a lovable valley with the glossy red ribbon of a road winding through it and white

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