“Whether Miss L. M. Montgomery is a Canadian or not, we know not, but if she isn’t she has taken a Canadian countryside, and peopled it, in a manner marvelously natural, and if she is a Canadian she has succeeded in writing one of the few Canadian stories that can appeal to the whole English-speaking world.
‘Anne of Green gables,’ is a charmingly-told story of life on the north shore of Prince Edward Island, but the local coloring is most delicately placed on the canvas and in no respect weakens the impression created by the central figure, Anne. This waif from an orphan asylum in Nova Scotia, adopted by an old farmer and his maiden sister, is covered with a sensitive and imaginative mind and the story of her hopes, struggles and ambitions, will appeal to every reader, old and young.
She is certainly of the most attractive figure[s] Canadian fiction has yet produced, while the characters of the farmer and his sister are drawn with a delicacy of touch that is most refreshing and charming. The book is an ideal volume for growing girls being as pure and sweet as the wild flowers of the Island which Miss Montgomery describes so lovingly. In fact, one of the great attractions of the story is the author’s love of nature which finds expression everywhere, without once appearing exaggerated or forced. The story is one which will give profit and pleasure to all its readers.”
- Montreal Daily Herald
July 21, 1908
The following are excerpts from the glowing reports of other media.
“Not since Kate Douglas Wiggin’s ‘Rebecca’ has so engaging a miss appeared in the fiction written for the consumption of older folks, as ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ the heroine of L.M. Montgomery’s first book.” - “New Books” by Anne Benszen Bradfird,
Boston Budget and Beacon
August 8, 1908
“The fact that the volume was published quite recently and is now in its second large edition is a sufficient guarantee of its unusual merit, but it is almost impossible for readers to guess even vaguely the treat that awaits them in its perusal.” - Reviewed by George Murray,
Montreal Daily Star
August 8, 1908
“It could only have been written by a woman of deep and wide sympathy…Throughout this delightful story reminds one of the captivating humor of ‘Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.’”
- The Boston Herald
To read more of these revealing reviews and also find many more sources of information about the novel, take a look at The Annotated Anne of Green Gables.
Source: The Annotated Anne of Green Gables – edited by Wendy E. Barry, Margaret Anne Doody, Mary E. Doody Jones
