5.0 out of 5 stars
Anne of the Island..., July 21, 2010
This review is from: Anne of the Island (Puffin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
"Anne of the Island" is the excellent third entry in Lucy Maud Montgomery's superb "Anne of Green Gables" series; it is also a decisive moment in red-haired orphan Anne Shirley's long and uncertain romance with childhood rival Gilbert Blythe.
After two years as the Avonlea schoolmarm, 18-year old Anne Shirley is finally off to college, along with former Queens Academy classmates Priscilla Grant, Stella Maynard, Charlie Sloane, and Gilbert Blythe. Redmond College in busy Kingsport will be a big adjustment after her years with foster mother Marilla Cuthbert in the small village of Avonlea on rural Prince Edward Island. Fortunately new and vivacious friend Phillippa Gordon provides a foursome for the girls to rent cozy Patty's Cottage, with its lovely garden, as a home base for studies and an active social life.
The once awkward Anne has grown into an attractive, passionate, and caring young woman who excels at her studies and her many friendships. She will attract lots of male attention and six offers of marriage. Several will be unexpected; most will be unwanted. Two will pose tough choices. Anne's relationship with longtime friend and admirer Gilbert is complicated; although she is attracted to him and cherishes their friendship, she is not prepared to see her childhood chum as a romantic leading man. When Gilbert makes clear he wants more from Anne than her friendship, the uncomfortable Anne makes an anguished refusal of his proposal.
Wealthy, worldly, and charming fellow student Roy Gardner will seem to embody Anne's notion of romance. Warning signs, including Anne's jealousy over Gilbert's social life and her decision to wear a corsage from Gilbert at graduation, are ignored. Roy's not unexpected proposal will present Anne with the potential consequences of her choice: life with a wealthy man who might not a kindred spirit, a lonely spinsterhood of good works, or, perhaps, a second chance with the man who completes her...
"Anne of the Island" is most highly recommended to "Anne of Green Gables" fans as an emotional and moving chapter in her life.
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