• Anne of the Island (1915) •

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In this third novel, Anne departs Green Gables and Avonlea as she heads to Redmond College. However, she is not entirely far from home - her old friend Prissy Grant awaits her in Kingsport (Halifax), Nova Scotia. Also, Anne meets a new friend, the enthusiastic girl, Phillipa Gordon. She settles in a rented house - full of obnoxious cushions - with her two friends in a wealthy neighbourhood close to the seaside park. As she departs from her childhood home and puts her memories of the past safely away, she discovers the joys and sorrows in life first-hand. Like the last two novels, numerous surprises pop up (including the very first publication of her story), an informal yet laughable first marriage proposal from someone unimaginable, and a tragedy in which she dearly learns from. Tears turn to laughter when Anne and her friends move into an old cottage and an ornery black cat steals her heart. Little does Anne know, handsome Gilbert Blythe wants to win her heart, too. Suddenly, Anne must decide if she's ready for love...

Notable Quotes:

"Harvest is ended and summer is gone." quoted Anne Shirley, gazing across the shorn fields dreamily.

Literary References:
There are various literary references to existing poems, legends or quotations that Montgomery incorporates into her novels. Here is a brief list of several literary works mentioned in Anne of the Island.

Epigraph ("All precious things, discover’d late..."):
The Daydream by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809 - 1892) English poet

Chapter 1 ("Harvest is ended and summer is gone"):
Jeremiah 8:20 - "Harvest hath passed, summer hath ended"

Incorporated actual events:

1) "She hung up her hat and faced her pupils, hoping that she did not look as frightened and foolish as she felt and that they would not perceive how she was trembling." (Chapter 5)

"Some of my own experiences in school-teaching were reflected in it, but in the atmosphere only, not in the incidents. I felt exactly as Anne felt when she opened school the first day - and I was as woefully tired and discouraged at night."

2) "Anne, I've made up my mind about heaven. I don't want to go there. Cause heaven is in Simon Fletcher's garret, and I don't like Simon Fletcher." (Chapter 16)

"One Sunday, when I could not have been more than four years old, I was in the old Clifton Church with Aunt Emily. I heard the minister say something about Heaven - that strange, mysterious place about which my only definite idea was that it was "where Mother had gone."
"Where is Heaven?" I whispered to Aunt Emily...she pointed upward...I took it for granted that this meant that portion of Clifton Church which was above the ceiling. There was a little square hole in the ceiling. Why could we not go up through it and see Mother? This was a great puzzle to me. I resolved that when I grew bigger I would go to Clifton and find some means of getting up into Heaven and finding Mother. This belief and hope was a great, though secret, comfort to me for several years. Heaven was no remote, unattainable place - "some brilliant but distant shore." No, no! It was only ten miles away, in the attic of Clifton Church! Very, very sadly and slowly I surrendered that belief."

Last updated: July 18, 2007
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