Sonderbooks Book Review of Anne of Ingleside

Reviewed May 6, 2003.
Bantam Books, New York, 1981. First published in 1939. 277 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF MON)

Okay, I have to admit that this is one of the least wonderful of L. M. Montgomery’s books. However, L. M. Montgomery’s worst surpasses most authors’ best. It still left me with that uplifted spirit that I always get from her books.

Like Anne of Windy Poplars, L. M. Montgomery wrote Anne of Ingleside at the end of her life when she was heartily sick of Anne. The Depression had destroyed her finances, so she wrote another Anne book that her fans were clamoring for. They were probably as delighted as I was when the book came back into print in the early eighties. Never mind if it wasn’t quite as wonderful as the other books, it was good to be back with old friends.

Anne of Ingleside tells about Anne after she left her House of Dreams as a young wife and moved to Ingleside with a growing family. Since the book is a children’s book, L. M. Montgomery focuses on Anne’s children, spotlighting different children in different adventures. L. M. Montgomery was a short story writer first. Her best books, such as The Blue Castle, Emily’s Quest, and Jane of Lantern Hill have a unified plot, but in many others, such as this one, she falls back on her talent for creating clever, delightful, and funny episodes and loosely pulling them together in a book.

In writing about the children, she doesn’t completely succeed at getting the child’s perspective, and they come across more as stories an amused parent would tell. Still, if you’ve come this far with Anne (This is Book 6 of the series), you’ll be as happy to hear more about her as I was when this book came back into print.

Reviews of other L. M. Montgomery books:
The Blue Castle
Kilmeny of the Orchard
The Story Girl
The Golden Road
Magic for Marigold
Chronicles of Avonlea
Further Chronicles of Avonlea
The Alpine Path
The Watchman and Other Poems

The Emily Series:
Emily of New Moon
Emily Climbs
Emily's Quest

The Anne Series:
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne's House of Dreams
Rainbow Valley
Rilla of Ingleside
The Road to Yesterday

Before Green Gables, by Budge Wilson
Marilla of Green Gables, by Sarah McCoy
The Annotated Anne of Green Gables
The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables, by Catherine Reid
House of Dreams, by Liz Rosenberg

List in Publication Order

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****Anne of Ingleside*

by L. M. Montgomery