Emily of New Moon
; Emily Climbs; Emily's Questby L. M. Montgomery
1923-27
Almost everyone who's had or been a kid knows Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, but fewer know the Emily trilogy, which I - blasphemer! - actually like better. Don't get me wrong, I loooooooooove the Anne of Green Gables books, and I'm sure I'll feature them here at some point, but the Emily books are something special. They chart the life of Emily Starr, who is sent as a young girl to live with distant relatives when her father dies of consumption (her mother having passed away earlier). The theme of an orphan stranded in a strange and often unsympathetic environment is similar to Anne's story, but these novels are darker and less romanticized than the Anne books. Emily (who Montgomery claimed most closely resembled her) is a passionate person with enormous capacities for joy and sorrow. She is driven, always, by her innate urge to write, and by her desire to make intimate connections with the people and worlds around her. The first book chronicles her settling in at New Moon Farm, and the second and third detail her journey to becoming a professional writer, and her various romances. As with any Montgomery book, even the secondary characters are wonderfully drawn, and her ear for dialogue and sense of life's inherent tragicomedic qualities is as strong as ever. If you've read the Anne books, give these a try as a slightly more adult work; if you haven't, go on out and get them and these. You won't be sorry you did.
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