Audiobook · read by volunteers
Kilmeny of the Orchard
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942)
Read by Sarah Jennings, Missie, Katie Gibboney, Karen Savage, Chloey Winters, Joan Freeman, Betsie Bush · 19 chapters · 3 h 46
About the book
Eric Marshall has everything a young man could want: good looks, good prospects and a place in the family business. When a sick friend asks him to take over as a substitute schoolmaster in a small country town, Eric agrees, expecting nothing out of the ordinary. But in the old orchard near his lodgings he hears a violin, and he meets a girl whose beauty and strange innocence unsettle him completely. Kilmeny has never spoken, and she lives in a world of her own, guarded by a protective family. Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables, writes a gentle, romantic story set in a place of sunshine and apple blossom. It is a short, tender book about love and obstacles. A short romance, gentle and bright, for a quiet afternoon.
Introduction
Lucy Maud Montgomery, born in 1874 on Prince Edward Island and died in 1942, is the Canadian author of Anne of Green Gables. Her many novels and stories are usually set on the island, and they have remained popular for more than a century. She wrote with great feeling for landscape and for the seasons, and her characters often discover that happiness depends on understanding other people.
Kilmeny of the Orchard was published in 1910, two years after her first great success. Unlike the Anne books, it is a romance with a more traditional shape, and it takes place largely in the country districts of Prince Edward Island. Montgomery sets up a delicate situation and handles it with sensitivity, using the orchard as a place where the ordinary world and something more dreamlike seem to meet. Readers have enjoyed the book for its charm and its light touch, and for the glimpses it gives of her skill at description.
This recording has nineteen sections and runs for nearly four hours. It is read by seven LibriVox volunteers. It makes a lovely listen for a long afternoon or a few evenings, and will appeal to readers who like romantic stories with a gentle pace and a lovely setting. If you enjoyed Montgomery’s other novels, you will recognise her warmth and her eye for the beauty of the country.
Montgomery’s descriptions of the orchard in blossom and of the old house nearby give the story its special atmosphere. The pace is unhurried, the dialogue is natural and the emotional tone is warm. It is a book for listeners who enjoy romances in which feelings are expressed through small gestures and quiet moments.
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