Anne of Avonlea (by Lucy Maud Montgomery)

(Amazon UK link)

I reread the classic teenage novel ‘Anne of Green Gables’ by LM Montgomery last month, so a couple of days ago I picked up the first sequel, ‘Anne of Avonlea’. I last read it only a few years ago, but I’d forgotten most of the details. As with the previous book, it’s set in Prince Edward Island in Canada in the early part of the 20th century. 

There’s not a whole lot of plot; this book covers the two-year period when Anne, aged sixteen, is working as a teacher at the Avonlea school. Not just a teacher, but THE teacher - the only one in a class of several ages. It seems incredible to me now, over a hundred years after this was published, that someone so young could have so much responsibility.

But although Anne is quite nervous about it, and full of ideals which won’t necessarily help her, she turns out to be an excellent teacher. Most of the children love her, and she wins their respect by listening to them, explaining things they find difficult, and letting them know that she cares. Only one boy is continually disrespectful, sneering that a ‘girl’ can’t be a teacher…

On the other hand, another new boy called Paul captures Anne’s interest from the start. He comes from the United States, and stands out as being imaginative, kind and generous. Some of the boys think he’s a bit of a sissy, but the girls like him and Anne finds him an absolute delight. 

Most of the book isn’t about time in the classroom, however. Instead it follows Anne’s daily life, living with and looking after the elderly Marilla whose sight is going. Just to add to their commitments, a distant relative of Marilla’s dies, and she agrees to take on the six-year-old twins Davy and Dora, at least for a few months. Dora is almost too good to be true, and Davy is continually in mischief, though he doesn’t mean to be bad. 

Meanwhile, Anne is part of the Avonlea village improvement society, hoping to get some of the buildings and roadsides smartened up. Their first project is not a success, but gradually people start to see the value of making their properties look a bit smarter.

Anne also gets to know her new neighbour, the grumpy Mr Harrison, who has a parrot called Ginger. Ginger is continually rude, even when Anne manages to get through Mr Harrison’s defences and befriends him.  She also gets to know the delightful Miss Lavendar, who lives in a cottage a few miles away. Miss Lavendar, like Anne, is full of imagination despite being thirty years older. Forty-five is apparently considered quite elderly, but she’s young and heart and the two strike up a close friendship. 

Each chapter is more-or-less complete in itself, although some of the threads are ongoing. Some of the outcomes are quite predictable, one or two others not so much. I’d entirely forgotten what transpired with Mr Harrison, although I had remembered the romantic ending of Miss Lavendar’s story. I had not recalled, however, the mildly amusing asides with Miss Lavendar’s maid, Charlotta the fourth. 

Anne’s friend Diana falls in love, rather to Anne’s dismay.  And it’s clear that her friend Gilbert wants more than friendship from Anne, but is wise enough not to push anything. He has four years of study ahead of him, as he wants to be a doctor. Anne is a likeable young woman, if rather over-talkative and with an imagination that sometimes gets out of hand. Some of the other people are a tad caricatured, but that helps in remembering who is whom. 

I admit to skimming some of the descriptive passages, which are a bit over-long for my tastes. But that didn’t detract from the warm, people-based stories. If nothing else, this is excellent social history, painting word pictures of life in a small town in the 1900s. There are some rather shocking insights, such as attitudes towards corporal punishment, or the casual designation of black housekeepers or other servants as ‘French’. And the casual role-separation of men and women is likely to raise some hackles. 

But all in all, it’s a pleasant light read, and a good sequel to the first book. I’m looking forward, now, to rereading the others in the series, which I haven’t read for a long time. 

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews