Anne of the Island, L.M. Montgomery’s seventh book, was published in July 1915 by The Page Company (Boston).
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Related page: Reviews of Books by L.M. Montgomery: 1908–1921
About Anne of the Island
Anne of the Island is the fourth of eleven books to feature Montgomery’s protagonist Anne Shirley Blythe, preceded by Anne of Green Gables (1908), Anne of Avonlea (1909), and Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), and followed by Anne’s House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920), Rilla of Ingleside (1921), Anne of Windy Poplars (1936), Anne of Ingleside (1939), and The Blythes Are Quoted (2009).
Montgomery continued expressed reluctance to write a third novel centred on Anne. She had moved on creatively from the character since finishing Anne of Avonlea, and what she saw as her strengths as a fiction writer—comedy—did not seem well suited for a courtship plot involving Anne. Moreover, although she entitled the manuscript “Anne of Redmond,” in reference to the college where Anne completes her undergraduate degree, her publisher insisted on calling the book Anne of the Island.
The publication of Anne of the Island marked the end of a contract with Montgomery’s first publisher, L.C. Page and Company. When attempts to renegotiate the contract went nowhere, she entered into an agreement with the Toronto firm of McClelland, Goodchild, and Stewart, with whom she placed her next book, The Watchman and Other Poems (1916).
Epigraph
“All precious things discovered late
To those that seek them issue forth
For Love in sequel works with Fate,
And draws the veil from hidden worth.”
—Tennyson
Dedication
To
all the girls all over the world
who have “wanted more” about
ANNE
Contents
I. The Shadow of Change
II. Garlands of Autumn
III. Greeting and Farewell
IV. April’s Lady
V. Letters from Home
VI. In the Park
VII. Home Again
VIII. Anne’s First Proposal
IX. An Unwelcome Lover and a Welcome Friend
X. Patty’s Place
XI. The Round of Life
XII. “Averil’s Atonement”
XIII. The Way of Transgressors
XIV. The Summons
XV. A Dream Turned Upside Down
XVI. Adjusted Relationships
XVII. A Letter from Davy
XVIII. Miss Josephine Remembers the Anne-Girl
XIX. An Interlude
XX. Gilbert Speaks
XXI. Roses of Yesterday
XXII. Spring and Anne Return to Green Gables
XXIII. Paul Cannot Find the Rock People
XXIV. Enter Jonas
XXV. Enter Prince Charming
XXVI. Enter Christine
XXVII. Mutual Confidences
XXVIII. A June Evening
XXIX. Diana’s Wedding
XXX. Mrs. Skinner’s Romance
XXXI. Anne to Philippa
XXXII. Tea with Mrs. Douglas
XXXIII. “He Just Kept Coming and Coming”
XXXIV. John Douglas Speaks at Last
XXXV. The Last Redmond Year Opens
XXXVI. The Gardners’ Call
XXXVII. Full-fledged B.A.’s
XXXVIII. False Dawn
XXXIX. Deals with Weddings
XL. A Book of Revelation
XLI. Love Takes Up the Glass of Time