Book Review | Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

Why not treat yourself to a copy of Before Green Gables

Rating

5 stars – it could have been written by L.M. Montgomery herself

Description

A must-read for generations of book lovers. This remarkable, and heart-warming prequel to the classic Anne of Green Gables was specially authorized by L.M. Montgomery’s heirs to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of the original novel.

Before Green Gables is the story of Anne Shirley’s life before her arrival at Green Gables-a heartwarming tale of a precocious child whose lively imagination and relentless spirit help her to overcome difficult circumstances and of a young girl’s ability to love, learn, and above all, dream.

Why did you choose to read this book?

I decided to re-read the Anne of Green Gables series as part of the Series Challenge – and it seemed like a good time to read the prequel which has been written especially for the centenary celebrations. I’ll also be writing another post about this book for the Celebrating 100 years of Anne mini challenge.

The Book Review

I have to admit that I was slightly reluctant to read a prequel to the series I loved so much as a child – especially as it was written by a completely different author. My fears were quelled slightly when I read Wilson’s acknowledgments; she has certainly done a lot of research and had help from some noted authorities on the original series and L.M. Montgomery.

When I started to read my fears disappeared altogether – and I found myself lost in a story that Montgomery herself would have been proud to read.

The story starts with Anne’s recently wedded parents and goes onto explain how they dies (so terribly sad) and how Anne came to live with Mrs Thomas and her large family. It then takes us through the ups and downs of Anne’s early life until she finds herself on Prince Edward Island ready and eager to be adopted by the Cuthberts.

This book is so well written; the young Anne is the one and same that we came to love in the original series, with her vivid imagination and keen use of ‘big words’!

Every time Anne’s life takes a turn for the worse I would hope that she would be taken in by the people who came to love her, even though I knew that things would not turn out that way. It’s odd really to read a book where you already know the start the middle and the end yet Wilson does such a fantastic job of making you think you are learning all this information anew, and that at any time Anne’s life could take a turn in a completely different direction!

I really enjoyed this book and it has me chomping at the bit to pick up Anne of Green Gables and continue the story.

If you are a lover of the red haired Anne then be sure to pick up this book and find out what happened to her before she met the Cuthberts – and if you are new to Green Gables this would be a perfect place to start your journey.

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