Sonderbooks Book Review of The Road to Yesterday

Reviewed May 25, 2004.
Bantam Books, New York, 1993. First published in 1974. 404 pages.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2004, #2, Young Adult and Children's Classics

The Road to Yesterday, is the last of the books about Anne of Green Gables, though it’s not really about Anne, but just full of references to her. L. M. Montgomery worked on this book at the end of her life, but it wasn’t published until long after her death. She clearly was tired of stories about Anne, so this is simply a collection of short stories, with every story containing people who know the Blythes. If the character is good, they love the Blythe family. If the character is bad, you can tell that’s so because they don’t like Anne.

The references to Anne and her family get quite annoying after awhile, but other than that, this is a delightful collection of short stories. L. M. Montgomery learned her craft by writing stories for magazines, and she kept that gift of storytelling to the end of her life. Even her novels tend to be episodic. Her great gift was really with short stories and humorous incidents.

These stories are reminiscent of the many other collections of her work. There are the quirky characters, the long-lost relatives, mistaken identities, old grudges or loves, and people forced to give up long cherished theories.

As always, I found reading L. M. Montgomery’s work like breathing a breath of fresh air. These are warm, humorous, charming stories, full of laughter and love.

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
Anne of Ingleside
Rainbow Valley
Rilla of Ingleside

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

*****The Road to Yesterday*

by L. M. Montgomery