Anne of the Island

Last updated
Anne of the Island
AnneOfTheIsland.jpg
First edition
Author Lucy Maud Montgomery
Cover artistH. Weston Taylor
LanguageEnglish
SeriesAnne of Green Gables
Genre Canadian literature
Publisher L. C. Page & Co.
Publication date
1915
Publication placeCanada
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Preceded by Anne of Avonlea  
Followed by Anne of Windy Poplars  
Text Anne of the Island at Wikisource

Anne of the Island is the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The plot sees Anne Shirley leave Green Gables in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, for the first time to attend Redmond College in Kingsport, Nova Scotia.

Contents

Title

While studying away from Prince Edward Island, and in particular when visiting the place of her birth, Anne finds herself identifying the Island as her true home. Several times, she denies being a "Bluenose", as those born in Nova Scotia were nicknamed, and considers herself an Islander to the core.

Plot summary

Anne leaves Green Gables and her work as a teacher in Avonlea to pursue her original dream (which she gave up in Anne of Green Gables ) of taking further education at Redmond College in Kingsport, Nova Scotia. Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane enroll as well, as does Anne's friend from Queen's Academy, Priscilla Grant. During her first week of school, Anne befriends Philippa Gordon, a beautiful girl whose frivolous ways charm her. Philippa (Phil for short) also happens to be from Anne's birthplace in Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia.

The girls spend their first year in boardinghouses and decide to set up house thereafter in a lovely cottage called Patty's Place, near campus. Meanwhile, Anne's childhood friend Ruby Gillis dies of consumption (tuberculosis) very soon after finding her own true love. The girls enter their second year at Redmond happily ensconced at Patty's Place, along with Queen's classmate Stella Maynard and her "Aunt Jimsie" (their chaperone), while life continues in Avonlea. Diana Barry marries Fred Wright and Davy and Dora continue to keep Marilla busy.

Midway through their college years, Gilbert Blythe, who has always loved Anne, proposes to her but Anne rejects him; although she and Gilbert are very close, she holds sentimental fantasies about true love (all featuring a tall, dark, handsome, inscrutable hero) and does not recognize her true feelings for Gilbert. Gilbert leaves, his heart broken, and the two drift apart.

Anne later welcomes the courtship of Roy Gardner, a darkly handsome Redmond student who showers her with attention and poetic gestures. However, when he proposes after two years, Anne abruptly realizes that Roy does not really belong in her life, and that she had only been in love with the idea of him as the embodiment of her childhood ideal.

Anne is so ashamed of her treatment of Roy that she fears having wasted her entire Redmond experience. She returns to Green Gables, a "full-fledged B.A.", but finds herself a bit lonely. Diana gives birth to her first child, and Jane Andrews, an old school friend, marries a Winnipeg millionaire. Having received an offer to be the principal of the Summerside school in the autumn, Anne is keeping herself occupied over the summer when she learns that Gilbert is gravely ill with typhoid fever. With shock, Anne finally realizes the depth of her true feelings for Gilbert, and endures a terrifying night of fearing that he will die without knowing her feelings. In the morning, Anne gratefully learns that Gilbert will survive. Gilbert recovers over the summer, bolstered by a letter from Phil assuring him that there is really nothing between Anne and Roy. After several visits to Green Gables, Gilbert and Anne take a late summer walk in Hester Gray's garden, and finally become engaged. [1]

Characters

Series

Montgomery continued the story of Anne Shirley in a series of sequels. They are listed in the order of Anne's age in each novel.

Lucy Maud Montgomery's books on Anne Shirley
#BookDate publishedAnne Shirley's age
1 Anne of Green Gables 190811 16
2 Anne of Avonlea 190916 18
3Anne of the Island191518 22
4 Anne of Windy Poplars 191622 25
5 Anne's House of Dreams 191725 27
6 Anne of Ingleside 191834 40
7 Rainbow Valley 191941
8 Rilla of Ingleside 192149 53
Related books in which Anne Shirley plays a lesser part
#BookDate publishedAnne Shirley's age
Chronicles of Avonlea 1912
Further Chronicles of Avonlea 1920
The Blythes Are Quoted 2009

Adaptations

The last two episodes of the six-part miniseries Anne of Avonlea (1975), starring Kim Braden, are based on Anne of the Island.

The second act of the musical Anne & Gilbert is based on Anne of the Island. The first act is based on Anne of Avonlea .

The television mini-series Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987), starring Megan Follows, was largely inspired by this book.

Related Research Articles

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Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, the novel recounts the adventures of an 11-year-old orphan girl Anne Shirley sent by mistake to two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town.

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Rilla of Ingleside (1921) is the eighth and last in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but was the sixth "Anne" novel in publication order. This book draws the focus back onto a single character, Anne and Gilbert's youngest daughter Bertha Marilla "Rilla" Blythe. It has a more serious tone, as it takes place during World War I and the three Blythe boys—Jem, Walter, and Shirley—along with Rilla's sweetheart Ken Ford, playmates Jerry Meredith and Carl Meredith—end up fighting in Europe with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Road to Avonlea is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the CBC Family Hour anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films in association with the CBC and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada. It follows the adventures of Sara Stanley, a young girl sent to live with her relatives in early 20th-century eastern Canada. It was loosely adapted from novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery, with many characters and episodes inspired by her stories.

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Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel is a 1987 Canadian television miniseries film. A sequel to the 1985 miniseries Anne of Green Gables, it is based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars. The story follows Anne Shirley as she leaves Green Gables in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, to teach at a prestigious ladies' college in New Brunswick. The main cast from the original film reprised their roles, including Megan Follows, Jonathan Crombie, Colleen Dewhurst, Patricia Hamilton, and Schuyler Grant.

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Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story is a 2000 miniseries television film, and the third installment in a series of four films. The film was highly anticipated among fans of Anne of Green Gables, and was the most controversial and heavily criticized of the three film adaptations written and produced by Kevin Sullivan.

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Anne of Avonlea is a 1909 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. The first sequel to Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (1908), the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley, from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at the Avonlea school on Prince Edward Island.

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<i>Anne of Windy Poplars</i> Book by Lucy Maud Montgomery

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<i>Rainbow Valley</i> 1919 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Blythe</span> Fictional character

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Anne of Green Gables is a 1934 American comedy drama film directed by George Nicholls, Jr., based upon the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Dawn O'Day, who portrayed the title character in the film, changed her stage name to Anne Shirley, which she was billed as for this and all subsequent roles. The film was a surprise hit, becoming one of four top-grossing films RKO made that year as noted in The R.K.O. Story, published by Arlington House.

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<i>Chronicles of Avonlea</i> Short-story collection by L. M. Montgomery

Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by L. M. Montgomery, related to the Anne of Green Gables series. It features an abundance of stories relating to the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea, and was first published in 1912. Sometimes marketed as a book in the Anne Shirley series, Anne plays only a minor role in the book: out of the 12 stories in the collection, she stars in only one, and has a small supporting role in another. She is otherwise only briefly mentioned in passing in five other stories: "Each in His Own Tongue", '"Little Joscelyn"', "The Winning of Lucinda", '"Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's" and "The End of a Quarrel".

<i>Further Chronicles of Avonlea</i>

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<i>Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series</i> Television series

Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series is a Canadian animated children's television series produced by Sullivan Entertainment and developed by writer/director/producer Kevin Sullivan, based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Many supporting characters are sourced from Sullivan's television series Road to Avonlea, which is based on Montgomery's books The Story Girl and The Golden Road. One season of the series was produced, with 26 episodes, originally airing from 2001 to 2002. The series was developed for PBS member stations and was originally distributed by PBS from 2001 to 2005, then later by American Public Television from 2010-2015. It is the second animated series based on the Anne of Green Gables story. The first one is of the same name, produced by Nippon Animation in 1979.

Anne of Avonlea is a film made for television 6-part miniseries, developed in the United Kingdom by the BBC as a sequel to its 1972 Anne of Green Gables miniseries. It is based on Anne of Avonlea (1909) and Anne of the Island (1915), both sequels to the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This British version was directed by Joan Craft, with Kim Braden in the role of Anne. Both had previously worked on the 1972 adaptation of the preceding novel.

References

  1. Lefebvre, Benjamin, ed. (2015). "Anne of the Island (1915)". The L. M. Montgomery Reader. Vol. 3. Toronto, ON: U of Toronto P. pp. 155–171. ISBN   9781442644939.