Anne of Windy Poplars

Anne of Windy Poplars by LM Montgomery
Bantam Books, 1998
Originally Published McClelland and Stewart, 1936
258 pages
Classic;
4/5 stars

Source: Own

Okay, so this was a good book but Anne is without Gilbert and I happen to really like them together so it loses in that regard. The narration is also a little odd as it switches from Anne's letters to Gilbert to third-person narration without any warning. I was fine with the letter technique and am not sure it needed to be changed up like that.

In this book, Anne is the principal of Summerside High School. I'm not entirely sure what principal meant at that time but I do not understand how a twenty-something would be in that position. Of course, I didn't understand a sixteen-year teaching in previous Anne books so I guess it fits. Meanwhile Gilbert is in medical school so they have a three year separation to endure-sadface for this reader.

But Anne has plenty to do in the meantime. She has to find a place to live during her tenure and she has to charm the Pringles, the clannish, well-to-do family who object to her placement when one of their own could have had the position. The first problem is easily remedied when she finds Windy Poplars with two widows, Rebecca Dew, and an adorable like-minded next door neighbor whose spirit is being crushed by her strict grandmother. The second problem soon ends as Anne displays her backbone, charm, and a little bit of luck.

We follow Anne over the course of her three years there, each with new scrapes and new adventures as well as new couplings and the signature Anne charm. Pretty much everyone falls for her eventually.

Overall: Really quite good.