Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement (1993)
By L.M. Montgomery
Edited by Rea Wilmshurst
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1993
Synopsis
In Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement, Montgomery has once again created for us believable characters who live in a world she knew well and depicted lovingly and accurately, the small villages and towns of eastern and western Canada. Though her characters are distant from us in time, their problems are very similar to those we have today, and their methods of solving them not very different. Just as Montgomery’s characters have to explore all feasible methods of reaching their goals, so young people today have to be inventive and intelligent, quick to notice a need they can fill. Just as her “disadvantaged” characters have to do battle to prove their worth in the face of prejudice and distrust, so do we all today have to learn to deal with set opinions and unswerving, even if erroneous, beliefs. Old-fashioned Montgomery may be, but out of fashion, never.
Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement is the fifth volume of L.M. Montgomery’s rediscovered stories to be published by McClelland & Stewart. Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans, Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea, Among the Shadows: Tales of the Darker Side, and After Many Days: Tales of Time Passed preceded this collection.
Contents
Introduction (7-13)
A Patent Medicine Testimonial (15-25)
The Fillmore Elderberries (27-36)
Dorinda’s Desperate Deed (37-46)
The Genesis of the Doughnut Club (47-56)
Bessie’s Doll (57-68)
At the Bay Shore Farm (69-80)
In Spite of Myself (81-94)
Why Mr. Cropper Changed His Mind (95-103)
How We Went to the Wedding (105-136)
Ned’s Stroke of Business (137-143)
Their Girl Josie (145-157)
The Blue North Room (159-168)
Where There Is a Will There Is a Way (169-176)
Lilian’s Business Venture (177-184)
A Question of Acquaintance (185-201)
A Case of Trespass (203-215)
A Substitute Journalist (217-227)
The Strike at Putney (229-240)
Editorial Note (241-242)
Acknowledgements (243)
Other Books by L.M. Montgomery (245-246)
Reviews
Campbell, Marie. “Against the Odds.” Review of Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement, by L.M. Montgomery, edited by Rea Wilmshurst. Canadian Children’s Literature / Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse 81 (Spring 1996): 62-63. Reprinted in Children’s Literature Review 91, edited by Scot Peacock, 194-95. Detroit: Gale, 2004.
Douglas, Lorraine. Review of Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement, by L.M. Montgomery, edited by Rea Wilmshurst. In Canadian Book Review Annual 1993, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, n.pag. Toronto: CBRA, 1994.
