by L.M. Montgomery
I completely missed this book as a child. I didn’t even really know of its existence until I visited Prince Edward Island a few years ago.
Fast forward to an audible subscription and the tedious task of unpacking a home and Anne became my companion for days of really unpleasant work.
And what a companion! One could not really ask for a nicer human being to spend time with while completing any task. Right from the start I was enraptured by the little Anne’s spirit. You just know that in real life she would drive you a bit mad but also make you smile and shake your head.
The joy of this book is not even really the narrative but rather the development and joy of Anne. She dominates it completely and what she does matters so much less than how she does it.
And she holds up pretty well in 2017 too – we need more Annes in the world really.
My best thing about this book though is that I sent a mail to my stepmother in Canada telling her how I enjoyed it. (Side note – she only became my stepmother when I was an adult and she married my mother.) She lived on PEI and her three daughters were born there and all love Anne. Her reply to me was
“Yay – now all my daughters are Anne-wacko”
Isn’t that such an Anne thing to think and say?