Anne of the Island (by Lucy Maud Montgomery)

(Amazon UK link)

'Anne of the Island' is the third of the 'Anne' books by LM Montgomery. Like the second, it's more a collection of incidents than an entire story, although the thread of Anne's potential romance runs through the book, as does her close friendships.

This novel sees her spending four years at Redmond College, studying for her BA along with old friends and new. She matures and develops, but is still the same imaginative and sometimes impulsive Anne of the first book.

It took me a while to get into this, but by about half-way through it was hard to put down, despite my having read it some years ago. There are some very moving sections as well as a fair amount of light relief and amusement.

The book is surprisingly modern in style and outlook, considering that it was written 90 years ago. Of course people still drive around in horses and carriages, and girls always wear dresses, but even so I was quite surprised to realise that girls could be quite emancipated and study for degrees so long ago.

Although there are three further 'Anne' books and then two about her children, I like the first three best and read them as a trilogy. This one comes to a very satisfactory conclusion and ties up so many loose ends that I don't feel the need to read any further in the series at present.

Recommended to adults and teenagers, but it's best to have read 'Anne of Green Gables' and 'Anne of Avonlea' first.