Rainbow Valley is L.M. Montgomery’s tenth book, first published in August 1919 by McClelland and Stewart (Toronto) and the Frederick A. Stokes Company (New York). It is the sixth of eleven books to feature Montgomery’s protagonist Anne Shirley Blythe, preceded by Anne of Green Gables (1908), Anne of Avonlea (1909), Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), Anne of the Island (1915), and Anne’s House of Dreams (1917), and followed by Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920), Rilla of Ingleside (1921), Anne of Windy Poplars (1936), Anne of Ingleside (1939), and The Blythes Are Quoted (2009).
Although the novel is set in the first decade of the twentieth century, it was planned and most of it drafted in the midst of the First World War and published within a year of the war’s end. The shadow of the War looms over the adult and child characters in the book, which is dedicated to the memory of three young men in Montgomery’s community who died in battle.
Epigraph
“The thoughts of youth are long,
long thoughts.”
—Longfellow
Dedication
To
the memory of
Goldwin Lapp, Robert Brookes
and Morley Shier
who made the supreme sacrifice
that the happy valleys of their home land
might be kept sacred from
the ravage of the invader
Contents
I. Home Again
II. Sheer Gossip
III. The Ingleside Children
IV. The Manse Children
V. The Advent of Mary Vance
VI. Mary Stays at the Manse
VII. A Fishy Episode
VIII. Miss Cornelia Intervenes
IX. Una Intervenes
X. The Manse Girls Clean House
XI. A Dreadful Discovery
XII. An Explanation and a Dare
XIII. The House on the Hill
XIV. Mrs. Alec Davis Makes a Call
XV. More Gossip
XVI. Tit for Tat
XVII. A Double Victory
XVIII. Mary Brings Evil Tidings
XIX. Poor Adam!
XX. Faith Makes a Friend
XXI. The Impossible Word
XXII. St. George Knows All About It
XXIII. The Good-Conduct Club
XXIV. A Charitable Impulse
XXV. Another Scandal and Another “Explanation”
XXVI. Miss Cornelia Gets a New Point of View
XXVII. A Sacred Concert
XXVIII. A Fast Day
XXIX. A Weird Tale
XXX. The Ghost on the Dyke
XXXI. Carl Does Penance
XXXII. Two Stubborn People
XXXIII. Carl Is—Not—Whipped
XXXIV. Una Visits the Hill
XXXV. “Let the Piper Come”
Rainbow Valley (41)
The Publishers’ Weekly (New York), 16 August 1919, 484–85 (Christine McAllister, “The Manse Children”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 152. Children’s Literature Review, edited by Gerard J. Senick (Detroit: Gale, 1985), 8: 136 (excerpted). The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 201–2.
Boston Herald, 30 August 1919, 4 (Sidney Williams).
Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia), 30 August 1919, 13 (“Green Gabling with Anne”).
Philadelphia Inquirer, 30 August 1919, 6. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 202 (as “[A Story of Love and Life]”).
Chicago Daily Tribune, 31 August 1919, Part 7, 7. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 202 (as “[Nothing Wild or Thrilling]”).
Trenton (NJ) Times-Advertiser, “Prince Edward Island Tale.” 31 August 1919, Part 2, 3. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 202–3.
The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer (New York), 1 September 1919, 191–92.
Sun (New York), 14 September 1919, Books and the Book World, 11 (Constance Murray Greene). The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 203–4 (as “[Another Story of Prince Edward Island]”).
The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer (New York, NY), 15 September 1919, 303.
The Outlook (New York), 17 September 1919, 95. Children’s Literature Review, edited by Gerard J. Senick (Detroit: Gale, 1985), 8: 137. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 204 (as “[More Distinctly a Novel]”).
Duluth (MN) News Tribune, 18 September 1919, 6.
New York Times Book Review, 21 September 1919, 484. Scrapbook of Reviews, 160. Children’s Literature Review, edited by Gerard J. Senick (Detroit: Gale, 1985), 8: 137–38 (excerpted). The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 204–5 (as “[A Homey Charm]”).
Manitoba Free Press (Winnipeg), 25 September 1919, 13. Scrapbook of Reviews, 106. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 205 (as “[Clean and Healthy Country Life]”).
Post (New York), 27 September 1919 (“Some Original Children”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 154. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 206.
New York Herald, 28 September 1919 (“Sure to Be Liked”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 154. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 207.
The Canadian Bookman (Ste. Anne de Bellevue, QC), October 1919, 59–60 (“Four Clever Women Novelists”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 161–62. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 207–9 (excerpted as “[A Clever Woman Novelist]”).
Wisconsin Library Bulletin (Madison), October 1919, 215.
The Dial (New York), 4 October 1919, 324. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 209 “[Between Sprightly and Pastoral]”).
San Jose Mercury Herald, 5 October 1919, 6.
Post Express (Rochester, NY), 11 October 1919, 17. Scrapbook of Reviews, 166. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 209–10 (as “[Human and Wholesome, with No Morbidity]”).
Boston Globe, 25 October 1919, 4. Scrapbook of Reviews, 163. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 210–11 (as “Just Bubbling Over with Whimsical Humor”).
Oregonian (Portland), 26 October 1919, 9. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 211 (as “[An Infinite Charm All Its Own]”).
ALA Booklist (Chicago), November 1919, 59.
Vogue (New York), 1 November 1919, 182 (“In the Service of Youth”).
Dallas Morning News, 16 November 1919, Magazine Supplement, 6. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 211 (as “Latest ‘Anne of Green Gables’ Story”).
The Christian Endeavor World (Boston), 27 November 1919, 171.
Boston Evening Transcript, 29 November 1919 (I.W.L., “A Clergyman’s Family and the Story of Its Upbringing”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 150.
Globe (Toronto), 6 December 1919, 17.
Journal (John O’Groats, UK), [ca. 1919]. Scrapbook of Reviews, 154.
The Family Herald and Weekly Star (Montreal), [ca. 1919] (“Another ‘Green Gable Anne’ Book”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 167.
Unidentified clipping, [ca. 1919] (Austin Bothwell). Scrapbook of Reviews, 164–65. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 215–17 (as “[The Gift of Humour]”).
Farmers’ Magazine (Toronto), 1 January 1920, 26–27.
Springfield (MA) Republican, 16 May 1920, 11A (“Anne Shirley Once More”).
The Scotsman (Edinburgh), 25 May 1920, 6. Scrapbook of Reviews, 168. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 211 (as “[Back to the Old Ground]”).
Times Literary Supplement (London), 27 May 1920, 338. Scrapbook of Reviews, 159. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 212 (as “[Still the Same Person]”).
The Outlook (London), 29 May 1920. Scrapbook of Reviews, 131. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 212–13 (as “[Might Have Been Worse]”).
Glasgow Herald, 14 June 1920, 11. Scrapbook of Reviews, 131. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 213 (as “[The Relentless Logic of Childhood]”).
Glasgow News, 17 August 1920 (“A Group of Children”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 173. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 213.
Times of India Illustrated Weekly (Mumbai), 8 September 1920. Scrapbook of Reviews, 174. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 213–14 (as “[A Story of Old World Days]”).
The Lady (London), 23 September 1920. Scrapbook of Reviews, 172.
The New Age (London), 18 November 1920, 35. Scrapbook of Reviews, 173. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 214–15 (as “[An Absurd Review]”).
Published on 2 August 2008; last updated on 29 March 2024. Please contact the site owner with additions, corrections, questions, and suggestions.