Editors Reads Verdict
The strongest of the Anne sequels, Anne of the Island is the book where Montgomery finally resolves the romantic thread she has been spinning since the first novel — and does it with enough ambiguity and emotional honesty to make the resolution feel genuinely earned.
What We Loved
- The resolution of the central romance is handled with real emotional intelligence
- College life at Redmond gives the series its most varied and lively social world
- The friendship between Anne, Priscilla, Philippa, and Stella is drawn with warmth and specificity
Minor Drawbacks
- Roy Gardner is too obviously a foil — he is handsome and devoted but has no interiority
- Some of the subplot comic incidents feel padded compared to the main romantic plot
Key Takeaways
- → The person we have overlooked and taken for granted may be exactly the person we most need
- → Romantic attraction and deep compatibility are different things, and mistaking one for the other is costly
- → Grief and loss are woven through even the happiest periods of life
| Author | L.M. Montgomery |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Bantam Classics |
| Pages | 272 |
| Published | July 1, 1915 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction, Classic, Romance |
Anne Goes to College
Anne of the Island is the third Anne book and the best of the sequels — the novel where the romantic question the series has been deferring since Gilbert Blythe first called Anne “Carrots” at the Avonlea school finally receives its answer. Anne is nineteen and heading to Redmond College, where she will spend four years acquiring the education she has always wanted and making new friends who expand the novel’s social world considerably.
Montgomery’s college scenes have an energy and variety that the more confined world of Avonlea sometimes lacks. The friendship quartet of Anne, Priscilla, Philippa Gordon, and Stella Maynard is the best female friendship group in the series: Philippa in particular, impractical and honest and eventually transformed by love, is one of Montgomery’s finest comic-serious creations.
The Romantic Question
Roy Gardner is everything Gilbert is not in the obvious sense — handsome, wealthy, ardent, openly devoted to Anne in the mode of literary romance she has always imagined. Montgomery makes him as attractive as possible, and Anne’s confusion is rendered convincingly. The problem is that Gardner has no interior life beyond his devotion to Anne. He is a mirror in which she sees her own romantic fantasies reflected.
Gilbert is absent and present throughout the novel — literally away for much of it, but always present as the standard against which Anne measures everything else without quite admitting she is doing so. The moment she realises what she has almost lost is handled by Montgomery with exactly the mixture of comedy and piercing feeling that is the series’ greatest tonal achievement.
Loss and Growth
Anne of the Island does not sentimentalise its college years. The death of Ruby Gillis — a girl who wanted marriage and beauty and domestic happiness and received instead an early death — provides a counterpoint to Anne’s privilege of choosing among possible futures. Montgomery is always honest about what fortune some of her characters have and others lack.
Our rating: 4.4/5 — The Anne series’ romantic and emotional peak, with its resolution handled more honestly than the romantic conventions of its era usually allowed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Anne of the Island" about?
Anne Shirley leaves Avonlea for Redmond College, where she discovers new friendships, navigates romantic confusion, and must finally decide between the persistent Roy Gardner and the friend she has always taken for granted.
What are the key takeaways from "Anne of the Island"?
The person we have overlooked and taken for granted may be exactly the person we most need Romantic attraction and deep compatibility are different things, and mistaking one for the other is costly Grief and loss are woven through even the happiest periods of life
Is "Anne of the Island" worth reading?
The strongest of the Anne sequels, Anne of the Island is the book where Montgomery finally resolves the romantic thread she has been spinning since the first novel — and does it with enough ambiguity and emotional honesty to make the resolution feel genuinely earned.
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