Kilmeny of the Orchard, L.M. Montgomery’s third book, was published in March 1910 by L.C. Page and Company (Boston).
« Anne of Avonlea (1909) | The Story Girl (1911) »
Contents
About Kilmeny of the Orchard
Epigraph
Dedication
Chapters
Editions of Kilmeny of the Orchard
Reviews of Kilmeny of the Orchard
Related page: Reviews of Books by L.M. Montgomery: 1908–1921
About Kilmeny of the Orchard
Although Montgomery had planned for The Story Girl to be her follow-up to Anne of Avonlea, it did not progress quickly enough for her publisher, who suggested that she shelve the book temporarily and expand a five-part serial, “Una of the Garden,” that had appeared in the Minneapolis magazine The Housekeeper between December 1908 and April 1909. Montgomery renamed the title protagonist, shifted the scene from a garden to an orchard, and expanded the story to book length. The story of schoolteacher Eric Marshall who falls in love with Kilmeny Gordon, a mute violinist with a tragic past, Kilmeny of the Orchard appeared only six months after Anne of Avonlea.
Epigraph
“Kilmeny looked up with a lovely grace,
But nae smile was seen on Kilmeny’s face;
As still was her look, and as still was her ee,
As the stillness that lay on the emerant lea,
Or the mist that sleeps on a waveless sea.
• • • • • • • • • • •
Such beauty bard may never declare,
For there was no pride nor passion there;
• • • • • • • • • • •
Her seymar was the lily flower,
And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower;
And her voice like a distant melodye
That floats along the twilight sea.”
—The Queen’s Wake
Dedication
To my cousin
Beatrice A. McIntyre
this book
is affectionately dedicated
Chapters
I. The Thoughts of Youth
II. A Letter of Destiny
III. The Master of Lindsay School
IV. A Tea Table Conversation
V. A Phantom of Delight
VI. The Story of Kilmeny
VII. A Rose of Womanhood
VIII. At the Gate of Eden
IX. The Straight Simplicity of Eve
X. A Troubling of the Waters
XI. A Lover and His Lass
XII. A Prisoner of Love
XIII. A Sweeter Woman Ne’er Drew Breath
XIV. In Her Selfless Mood
XV. An Old, Unhappy, Far-off Thing
XVI. David Baker’s Opinion
XVII. A Broken Fetter
XVIII. Neil Gordon Solves His Own Problem
XIX. Victor from Vanquished Issues
Editions of Kilmeny of the Orchard
L.C. Page and Company (Boston) published the first edition of Kilmeny of the Orchard in April 1910. This first edition contains cover art and four full-colour interior illustrations by George Gibbs. Page licensed reprint editions to A.L. Burt Company (New York) and Grosset and Dunlap (New York).
Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons (London) published the first UK edition of Kilmeny of the Orchard in 1910. George G. Harrap and Company (London) released a new edition of Kilmeny of the Orchard in 1925.
Angus and Robertson (Sydney) published the first of many Australian editions of Kilmeny of the Orchard in 1925, initially through its Cornstalk Publishing Company imprint. It published subsequent editions of Kilmeny of the Orchard throughout the twentieth century.
The Ryerson Press published the first Canadian edition of Kilmeny of the Orchard in September 1944. The Ryerson Press reprinted this edition for almost half a century, later in trade paperback format, even after the press became McGraw-Hill Ryerson in 1970.
Reviews of Kilmeny of the Orchard
Reviews of Kilmeny of the Orchard that have been located so far appeared in periodicals from Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Volume 3 of The L.M. Montgomery Reader includes the full text of ten reviews of Kilmeny of the Orchard.
“As will be seen, the plot is not particularly novel, but the charm and beauty of the story rest in its descriptive passages and in the manner in which it is told. It is one of those tales of the outdoors that are especially pleasing in summer—and, as all summer reading should be, it is not too long—merely a well-told, simple narrative of a little known part of the world and some delightful people.”
—The Washington (DC) Herald