When siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert from the Green Gables farm, on Prince Edward Island, Canada, decide to adopt a boy to help with the farm chores, they are not ready for the ‘mistake’ that will change their lives forever: Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old red-haired girl ends up being mistakenly sent to them by the orphanage.
Despite the unexpected event, the girl’s expansive nature, her invariable positivity towards, her curiosity, her peculiar imagination, and her non-stop chatter quickly win the reluctant adoptive parents over. Anne’s combative and questioning spirit soon attracts the interest of the local people–in addition to all sorts of troubles.
Nevertheless, Anne is a Pollyanna-type girl, and her ability to always see the beautiful and positive side of things, and her love for life, nature, and books touch the hearts of everyone, and she ends up being ‘adopted’ by the whole community.
First published in 1908, this delightful tale illustrates fundamental core values such as ethics, solidarity, honesty, and the importance of work and friendship. It has had numerous editions and has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, being translated into more than 20 languages. Widely adapted into plays and movies, the book has, more recently, inspired the Netflix series Anne with an E.
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Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) was born in New London, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Her mother died of Tuberculosis when she was almost 2 years old. Her father then moved to the west of the country, leaving her in the care of her maternal grandparents. As an only child living with an elderly couple, Lucy found support in her imagination, in nature, in books and in writing. At the age of 9, she started writing poetry and keeping a diary. From 1893 to 1894, she studied to be a teacher at Prince of Wales College, graduating with honors when she finished the course in half the expected time.
In 1905, Lucy wrote her first and most famous novel: Anne of Green Gables. At the time, she sent the manuscript to five publishers, all of whom rejected it. Having kept the manuscript in a hat box for two years, she later found it, reread it, and decided to try one more time to publish it. The work was accepted by L. C. Page, of Boston, Massachusetts, and it was published in 1908. An instant bestseller, Anne of Green Gables marked the beginning of Montgomery’s successful career as a novelist. In all, she has published 20 novels (9 of which starred Anne Shirley), more than 500 short stories, a poetry book and an autobiography.