Anne of Avonlea
1909
At sixteen, Anne Shirley is no longer the wide-eyed orphan who stumbled into Green Gables. She's a teacher now, standing before the very classroom she once attended, determined to inspire her students the way Matthew and Marilla once inspired her. But teaching proves harder than dreaming. Her students test her patience, her neighbor Mr. Harrison finds fault with everything she does, and Anne must learn that idealism alone won't quiet a classroom of restless children. This is also the story of two new arrivals at Green Gables: the wild Davy and silent Dora, orphans Marilla takes in, who gradually become the siblings Anne never had. And beneath the small dramas of rural Prince Edward Island, something more delicate stirs. Anne is growing up. First love flickers. Old friendships shift. The girl who once talked to mirrors and pretended her reflection was a lifelong friend is beginning to understand that becoming an adult means leaving certain dreams behind. For readers who fell in love with Anne at Green Gables, this sequel captures a more tender, more complex moment: the difficult beauty of growing up and learning that the world asks more of us than simply wanting to be good.
Editions
X-Ray
“Well, we all make mistakes, dear, so just put it behind you. We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.””
— L. M. Montgomery
“After all," Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.””
— L. M. Montgomery
“Oh, sometimes I think it is of no use to make friends. They only go out of your life after awhile and leave a hurt that is worse than the emptiness before they came.””
— L. M. Montgomery
“For a moment Anne's heart fluttered queerly and for the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert's gaze and a rosy flush stained the paleness of her face. It was as if a veil that had hung before her inner consciousness had been lifted, giving to her view a revelation of unsuspected feelings and realities. Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps. . . perhaps. . .love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath. ””
— L. M. Montgomery
“One can't get over the habit of being a little girl all at once.””
— L. M. Montgomery
“…I'm so thankful for friendship. It beautifies life so much.””
— L. M. Montgomery
“That is one good thing about this world...there are always sure to be more springs.””
— L. M. Montgomery
“You're never safe from being surprised until you're dead.””
— L. M. Montgomery
“I'm really a very happy, contented little person in spite of my broken heart.””
— L. M. Montgomery
