I’m giving this the same rating as Anne of the Island even though I liked it slightly more. It just doesn’t really deserve a 4-stars either. After the third one, I approached this one differently, not as an Anne story, but as LM Montgomery using Anne as a vehicle to explore what she seems most interested in: village life, and the different characters that live in it. This book is heavy on the telling rather than the showing, but since at least half of it, if not more, is being told through an epistolary format of Anne writing letter to Gilbert and discussing her life at Windy Poplars and Sunnyside, then it fits a little better.

I am still disappointed with how… removed from her Green Gable life this is though. Everything is about Summerside and the people there and we hear practically nothing of previous characters. The first summer at Green Gables is completely skipped over and the next chapter starts when Anne goes back to her job. There is another short trip back home for Christmas with Catherine Brooke where there are no conversations between Anne and any of the people living there—not Marilla or Rachel or (thank go) Davey. Marilla has one line. Anne learns that Diana has given birth to a girl, letting us know that there has been no letters shared between them (and Diana is basically never mentioned ever), or at least it gives that impression. And the one scene where they visit her is skipped over and not one conversation happens between them and Anne shows very little joy at her oldest friend having a child/possibly having a little niece by friendship. Even Gilbert comes over for the holidays, and we have no scene between them. Only a paragraph about how happy Anne one to see him in one of her letters to him letter. (Anne does mention briefly, the next time she visits, how her life and Diana’s is different now—and that’s normal, but you can still be friends, even if you’re not as close as before!)

The book is just entirely focused on Summerside and her life there and the people and any older characters are basically forgotten. None of her friends from book 3 are even mentioned. It made me feel like Anne had completely forgotten about all of them, although I know this is a narrative choice. And while there are definitely nice moments, adorable moments, funny moments, it’s hard to care about any of it, when you know that any of them will probably never be mentioned again. How can there be not even one letter between Anne and Marilla. Not one mention of her in her letters to Gilbert either.

And like in the previous book, Montgomery seemed little interested in exploring Anne’s work in this book, just like she wasn’t interested in exploring her studying life beforehand. It’s just little vignettes of the people Anne meet, and how she impacts their lives.

In the first book, Anne asks Matthew what he would prefer: to be divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good. It seems to me that Montgomery answered her own question by making Anne almost entirely angelically good. No real mistakes here (one or two faux pas that were well intentioned and where the people on the receiving end were even more in the wrong than her), no fits of tamper, or wild fancies that land her in trouble. Everyone loves her. The hard ones soften in her presence. Her smile and eyes get everyone to agree with her. It only takes her a few months to get the Pringles on her side, and then they’re eating out of her hand. She’s kind to everyone, fair and just, helps people etc. Everyone gets attached to her. All of this is good, and it’s not like I’d want her to be the opposite of those things, but frankly? It’s kinda boring. She isn’t really a real character anymore, it feels.

And yet, there are still some lovely things in here. Montgomery really knows how to grip me with her writing (though I must say that I’ve been listening to these books, and I think the narration helps a lot—the voices are fun, and it’s easy to follow along, and I think it gives more life to the somewhat repetitive format).