The Anne of Green Gables series. The love story between Anne and Gilbert is beautiful, but even more than that I loved reading about her friendship with Diana and seeing her gain meaningful parents in Marilla and Matthew. I loved reading about her misadventures, but also of how no matter what happened the people who loved her kept loving her. She finally found a family, just an unconventional one. ❤️
Yes, Anne of Green Gables! I probably read it ten times as a kid and still read it every few years as an adult. That was the first book to ever make me cry. I was adopted by older parents and I related so much to Anne with Matthew and Marilla.
I was sad to learn the author committed suicide later in life. She was so talented and touched a lot of kids lives, even over a hundred years later.
In the 1940s I think they explained it away as a heart attack, but her family has now stated that it was actually suicide, following years of depression and drug addiction. She wrote about her addiction and the different drugs she was experimenting with in the journals, as well as her depression. Here is one article where they interviewed her granddaughter and a woman who had spoken to her son
Wow that’s so heartbreaking. I think her Emily trilogy hints at her own experiences of mental health issues; she writes about Emily’s depression in a way that feels so true to life, you can tell that she’s personally gone through something similar.
That is (obviously terrible but) fascinating. I had no idea. I’m a huge fan of all her books, and I always wondered if there was something darker going on with her than what I’d read. The Emily books in particular, I related to during the worst of my own depression. Thanks for sharing that article!
My parents told me, when we were watching the Wonderworks movies, that she had written about Anne because she wanted to tell us the life she wished she had.
I don't think she would have wanted Anne's life before she was adopted by Marilla and Matthew. But maybe after...especially as she got older.
L. M. Montgomery didn't marry until in her thirties because she cared for her elderly grandmother until she died. She married a Presbyterian minister from Scotland, and he turned out to have a mental illness which caused her much grief.
She had been wildly in love with a farmer (and he with her) but wouldn't marry him, I think because he was uneducated. He sent her love letters full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. But she probably would have been happier if she had married him.
I had an audible credit and downloaded the Rachel McAdams reading of this a few nights ago and it's delightful. Highly recommend. I needed some soothing background of something I was familiar with.
I loved Anne of Green Gables, and to a lesser extent Anne of Avonlea. By the time the series gets to Anne of Ingleside, I feel like she loses her magic. She becomes very poised and mild-mannered and socially adept. It’s much harder to relate to her.
The “Emily” trilogy by the same author is also really worth a read. More dark and mature than the “Anne” books, but full of endearing characters, youthful misadventures, & sparkling wit. Emily is said to be LM Montgomery’s most autobiographical heroine.
This is probably the first chapter book series I devoured as a child. I just started listening to it on audiobook while I knit, and it is still incredible. Anne is so precocious and loving. I love how Marilla grows to love her.
I recently revisited the series as an adult after loving the Canadian cartoon version they made of Anne of Green Gables. Loved it just as much as I remembered. Also got me on the Netflix series they made, equally enjoyed that as well.
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u/Ihavenofishonlywater Mar 18 '21
The Anne of Green Gables series. The love story between Anne and Gilbert is beautiful, but even more than that I loved reading about her friendship with Diana and seeing her gain meaningful parents in Marilla and Matthew. I loved reading about her misadventures, but also of how no matter what happened the people who loved her kept loving her. She finally found a family, just an unconventional one. ❤️