Rainbow Valley
1919
In this seventh installment of the Anne series, the torch passes to a new generation. Anne Shirley's six children take center stage, and the beloved redhead who once enchanted readers from Green Gables now watches her own children discover the magic of childhood in Rainbow Valley. When the unconventional Meredith family arrives at the Glen St. Mary manse, their wild children collide with the Blythe offspring in a summer of adventure, mischief, and hard-won friendship. Together, the children explore the enchanted creek valley that gives the book its name, building forts, staging plays, and learning what it means to belong to something larger than themselves. Yet shadows gather at the edges of this pastoral world: the Great War overseas casts its long shadow, and readers familiar with the series know this is the calm before the storm. Written in 1919, Montgomery dedicated this book to young men who would never come home, lending these cheerful chapters an unexpected poignancy. For those who grew up with Anne, watching her children now run through fields she once walked is both tender and bittersweet. It is a love letter to childhood itself, and to the unbearable sweetness of worlds that cannot last.
