Anne of Avonlea is L.M. Montgomery’s second book, first published in September 1909 by L.C. Page and Company. It is the second of eleven books to feature Montgomery’s protagonist Anne Shirley Blythe, preceded by Anne of Green Gables (1908) and followed by Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne’s House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920), Rilla of Ingleside (1921), Anne of Windy Poplars (1936), Anne of Ingleside (1939), and The Blythes Are Quoted (2009). It was also followed by Montgomery’s third book, Kilmeny of the Orchard (1910).
Although legend suggests that Montgomery wrote Anne of Avonlea as a response to the runaway success of Anne of Green Gables, she actually was asked to produce a sequel immediately upon signing a contract for her first book. In fact, the publication of Anne of Avonlea was delayed by a few months because Green Gables continued to sell too well.
The novel was the basis for two television miniseries: the BBC production of Anne of Avonlea (which also borrowed from Anne of the Island) and the Sullivan Entertainment production Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (which on the Disney Channel aired as Anne of Avonlea: The Continuing Story of Anne of Green Gables).
epigraph
“Flowers spring to blossom where she walks / The careful ways of duty, / Our hard, stiff lines of life with her / Are flowing curves of beauty.” —Whittier
dedication
“To my former teacher, Hattie Gordon Smith, in grateful remembrance of her sympathy and encouragement.”
Contents
1. An Irate Neighbor
2. Selling in Haste and Repenting at Leisure
3. Mr. Harrison at Home
4. Different Opinions
5. A Full-fledged Schoolma’am
6. All Sorts and Conditions of Men…and Women
7. The Pointing of Duty
8. Marilla Adopts Twins
9. A Question of Color
10. Davy in Search of a Sensation
11. Facts and Fancies
12. A Jonah Day
13. A Golden Picnic
14. A Danger Averted
15. The Beginning of Vacation
16. The Substance of Things Hoped For
17. A Chapter of Accidents
18. An Adventure on the Tory Road
19. Just a Happy Day
20. The Way It Often Happens
21. Sweet Miss Lavendar
22. Odds and Ends
23. Miss Lavendar’s Romance
24. A Prophet in His Own Country
25. An Avonlea Scandal
26. Around the Bend
27. An Afternoon at the Stone House
28. The Prince Comes Back to the Enchanted Palace
29. Poetry and Prose
30. A Wedding at the Stone House
Links
L.M. Montgomery’s Personal Scrapbooks and Book Covers: Anne of Avonlea