Before Green Gables

by Budge Wilson

Overview

This prequel to Anne of Green Gables "takes on a rich, real life of its own...I was rapt." (Washington Post)

For the millions of readers who devoured the Green Gables series, Before Green Gables is an irresistible treat; the account of how one of literature's most beloved heroines became the girl who captivated the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425225769
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/03/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Budge Wilson is the author of the acclaimed book The Leaving, a short story collection chosen by the American Library Association as one of the 75 Best Children's Books of the past twenty-five years, winner of the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, and the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. A Nova Scotia native and resident, Ms. Wilson has worked as a teacher, commercial artist, photographer, and fitness instructor, but now occupies her time with her true love, writing.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Profound ideas, persuasively fleshed out. L.M. Montgomery would surely have approved."
-Washington Post

"Good news for those who love the feisty, imaginative heroine of Anne of Green Gables. If the half-dozen or so books by Lucy Maud Montgomery aren't enough, readers now can step back in time to learn about Anne's early years...Anne has many adventures in this briskly plotted novel."
-Columbus Dispatch

"Wilson makes Anne Shirley speak like Montgomery's Anne Shirley and even provides a credible scenario to show how a backwoods girl with little education managed to acquire the vast, precocious vocabulary that has endeared Anne to many readers."
-Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada)

"Wilson cleverly and adroitly portrays the essence of Montgomery's famous red-headed orphan."
-Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

"Profound ideas, persuasively fleshed out. L.M. Montgomery would surely have approved."
-Washington Post

"Good news for those who love the feisty, imaginative heroine of Anne of Green Gables. If the half-dozen or so books by Lucy Maud Montgomery aren't enough, readers now can step back in time to learn about Anne's early years...Anne has many adventures in this briskly plotted novel."
-Columbus Dispatch

"Wilson makes Anne Shirley speak like Montgomery's Anne Shirley and even provides a credible scenario to show how a backwoods girl with little education managed to acquire the vast, precocious vocabulary that has endeared Anne to many readers."
-Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada)

"Wilson cleverly and adroitly portrays the essence of Montgomery's famous red-headed orphan."
-Library Journal

From the Publisher

A prequel to a beloved classic, from Canadian children's-book author Wilson (stories: The Leaving, 1992, etc.). Anne Shirley, L.M. Montgomery's plucky redheaded heroine, is 11 years old when she first arrives at Green Gables. With this novel, Wilson imagines Anne's origins. The child of two preternaturally happy and loving parents, Anne is a lucky and much-adored baby. But her luck runs out at the tender age of three months, when both her parents die in an epidemic. Anne becomes the ward of the Thomas family, where existence is defined by poverty, hardship and violence. Any positive development in Anne's life is generally countered by a swift reversal, and the only happiness she knows is the kind she's able to create for herself. Wilson writes with a plain, calm style, never descending into melodrama. Ultimately, her coolness drains the narrative of pathos. Anne experiences horrible neglect and abuse, but she remains essentially untouched by it. The Anne portrayed here is not believable, even a little off-putting. She's walking when she's just a few months old; she's speaking in elaborate metaphors as a toddler; and, at 11, she has both the awareness to understand that she has been robbed of a proper childhood and the self-possession to compose an eloquent and impassioned soliloquy on the topic. Generations of readers familiar with Anne's life after she arrives at Avonlea may have wondered how a little orphan girl could be so precocious and optimistic. Wilson's prequel suggests that it may have been better to leave that question unanswered. This drab, unappealing story probably won't please Anne's many admirers, nor will it inspire a new audience for Anne of Green Gables.

Kirkus Reviews