Audiobook · read by volunteers
Anne of the Island
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942)
Read by JemmaBlythe, Annie Coleman Rothenberg, Michael Nelson, Franziska Nelson, frenchfry, Baranduin, Randi Warwick, Maddie, Kristin Hughes (1974-2021), Luisa Hall · 41 chapters · 7 h 51
About the book
Anne Shirley has left Green Gables behind and set out for Redmond College, with a head full of plans and a heart that hasn’t entirely settled down. In Anne of the Island, the third of the Anne books, she shares a house with new friends, discovers a taste for writing and is tested by the first serious proposals of marriage. There are old friends to miss, new ones to meet, comic mishaps and quiet griefs, and always the Prince Edward Island landscape she loves. Lucy Maud Montgomery lets Anne grow up in front of us, with all her imagination and her mistakes. The humour is warm, the sentiment sincere, and the sense of place is irresistible. Forty-one chapters, almost eight hours, and a lovely return to a favourite character for those who know her, or a sunny new start for those who don’t.
Introduction
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) was born on Prince Edward Island, and the landscape of her childhood shaped the stories that made her famous. Anne of Green Gables appeared in 1908 and was so widely loved that she wrote several sequels. Anne of the Island, published in 1915, is the third in the series. Montgomery’s characters are drawn with affection, and her dialogue, full of banter and unexpected tenderness, translates especially well into audio, with each reader giving a distinct personality to the friends Anne meets.
In this volume Anne leaves home to study for her BA at Redmond College. The setting widens, from the small community of Avonlea to a college town, and the tone matures with it. Anne meets new people, faces uncertainty about her future and discovers that her ideas of romance do not always match real life. As in the earlier books, she remains a person of boundless imagination, and she finds, as the story says, many kindred spirits along the way. Montgomery’s strengths are on show: lively dialogue, affectionate comedy and descriptions of seasons and shorelines that make the island feel like a character in its own right. The book is gentle but not shallow, and it takes the emotions of young adulthood seriously.
The recording follows 41 chapters and runs for about eight hours. A team of LibriVox volunteers shares the reading.
It remains a delight today, particularly for listeners who enjoy a slow, kindly story about friendship, ambition and growing up. It works as a companion to the earlier books, and it can be enjoyed on its own.
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