Audiobook · read by volunteers
Anne of Green Gables (version 3)
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942)
Read by Karen Savage · 38 chapters · 8 h 37
About the book
When Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, an elderly brother and sister on Prince Edward Island, send for an orphan boy to help on their farm, they are surprised to find a talkative, red-haired girl waiting at the station. Her name is Anne, with an e, and she is full of imagination, dramatic speeches and hopes of a true friend. At Green Gables she scrapes through one mishap after another, from a hair-dye disaster to a slate broken in the schoolroom, and slowly wins over the neighbours, her schoolmates and even the stern Marilla. L. M. Montgomery’s beloved novel follows Anne from childhood toward the edge of adulthood, with warmth, comedy and a deep feeling for the seasons of the island. Karen Savage reads all thirty-eight chapters in this third LibriVox version. A timeless story of belonging, ambition and family, and a perfect companion for gentle listening.
Introduction
Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in 1874 and died in 1942. She grew up on Prince Edward Island in Canada, the setting that she loved all her life, and she went on to write many novels, short stories and poems. Her best-known creation is Anne Shirley, whose adventures continued through a series of sequels.
Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908 and was an immediate success, winning readers across Canada, the United States and well beyond. It tells the story of an eleven-year-old orphan, mistakenly sent to a brother and sister who wanted a boy to help with the farm. Anne’s vivid imagination and sensitive spirit gradually win over her new home. The book has been translated into dozens of languages, and has inspired stage musicals, films and television adaptations.
Part of its enduring appeal lies in Montgomery’s descriptions of the island landscape, its orchards, ponds and lanes, which she renders in language almost as vivid as Anne’s own. Another part lies in the way the humour and the emotion are kept in balance: the comic episodes are genuinely funny, and the moments of loss or sacrifice arrive with real feeling.
This is the third version of the book in the LibriVox catalogue, so listeners can choose among several readers. It is divided into thirty-eight chapters and runs for about eight and a half hours, read by volunteer Karen Savage. It is a lovely audiobook for family listening, long evenings or a return to a favourite.
Public domain
Lucy Maud Montgomery died in 1942: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text