Author Description

It's the late 1800's in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Yeah; we know. It's not an exciting time and place--it's not, say, Paris in the 1920's or Casablanca during WWII. But bear with us. A pair of adult siblings named Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who lead a very quiet life on a farm called Green Gables, decide to adopt a boy from an orphanage. And they're not doing it out of the goodness of their heart or any real desire to parent a child--they just want someone who can help Matthew with farm chores, since he's getting older. With the casual tone of people who need to pick up a loaf of bread from the store, the Cuthberts ask a woman who is already travelling to the orphanage to pick up a boy for them. But the message gets lost in translation, and the woman leaves a girl to meet Matthew at the train station.And not just any girl. They get Anne--spelled with an very important "e," she likes to point out--Shirley, a redheaded eleven-year-old who is obsessed with words, poetry, and beauty. Oh yeah: and she can't. stop. talking.Both Cuthberts are startled at first. Anne is deeply sincere, but this eleven-year-old's long poetic speeches seem strange in the Cuthberts' quiet farm town of Avonlea, where big displays of emotion are not the norm. But Anne's uniqueness wins over Matthew and eventually, Marilla, who is also moved by Anne's history. (Anne has been treated as an unpaid servant, a caregiver for other people's children, her whole life.)So after a rocky start (Anne's first act in Avonlea is to anger the town busybody, Mrs. Rachel Lynde), she becomes a part of the community. Anne falls in love with the beauty of the island, and renames many spots in town to make them sound more romantic. She makes a "bosom" (Anne-speak for "best") friend, her neighbor Diana Barry, and an enemy, a boy in her class named Gilbert Blythe, who insults her by comparing her hair to carrots.