The prequel a century after Anne of Green Gables
From: The Times
BY: Sarah Maslin Nir
There’s such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I’m such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn’t be half so interesting.” So says 11-year-old Anne Shirley, the preternaturally wise redheaded protagonist of Anne of Green Gables and the nearly one dozen sequels penned in the early 20th century by Lucy Maud Montgomery, a minister’s wife from a remote Canadian isle. From the moment the charming tale of the loquacious orphan girl’s rocky upbringing in pioneer Canada hit the shelves in 1908, it was an unexpected instant success. Sequels, and its provincial author, were demanded internationally. If its appeal at its debut a century ago came as a surprise, what’s even more shocking is that in the years hence, its popularity has been unflagging. “In 100 years it’s never been out of print,” says Kate MacDonald Butler, Montgomery’s granddaughter. “Its popularity never seems to be dwindling, there’s more and more interest all the time.”