Jane of Lantern Hill (by L M Montgomery)

(Amazon UK link)

I enjoy reading the books by Lucy Maud Montgomery, who is best known, of course, for the series featuring 'Anne of Green Gables'. I've collected a few of her other books over the years, but many of them are currently out of print.

So I was pleased to see a copy of 'Jane of Lantern Hill' on a friend's shelves, and borrowed it recently. It's the story of Jane Victoria, a girl who lives with her pretty but rather fluffy mother, and her strict, rigid grandmother. There's some secret about her past - Jane assumes her father is dead, but her mother never talks about him. She's not happy, most of the time, and being an imaginative, dreamy child, she is frequently in some kind of trouble.

Then a letter arrives which changes Jane's life... to say any more would be a spoiler. It's a charming book, with a predictable but satisfactory ending. The writing is old-fashioned, but then the book was written early last century. The people are a bit caricatured, but delightful - or horrible - nonetheless, and the characterisation is cleverly done.

A bit too much description for my tastes, but overall it was a gentle, light read which I enjoyed. Recommended.

2016 note: this book has recently been republished both in paperback and in Kindle form, so is much more widely available than it used to be.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 17th August 2009