Before Green Gables

by Budge Wilson

Book Overview

View our feature on Budge Wilson's "Before Green Gables." A must-read for generations of book lovers. This remarkable, and heart-warming prequel to the classic "Anne of Green Gables" was specially authorized by L.M. Montgomery's heirs to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of the original novel. "Before Green Gables" is the story of Anne Shirley's life before her arrival at Green Gables-a heartwarming tale of a precocious child whose lively imagination and relentless spirit help her to overcome difficult circumstances and of a young girl's ability to love, learn, and above all, dream. Published in 1908, L. M. Montgomery's coming-of-age classic "Anne of Green Gables" has enchanted generations of readers, both children and adults. The story of the spunky red-haired orphan from Prince Edward Island is known to millions, and copies of the eight titles in the series have never gone out of print. But when readers first meet Anne, she is eleven, and has just been sent from an orphanage to meet her new family. No one ever learned the events of Anne's life before she arrived at Green Gables. Until now. 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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039915468X
• ISBN13: 9780399154683
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 389 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Oh! How exquisite!

Budge Wilson has truly captured the heart of Anne Shirley and the thoughts of Lucy Montgomery. This novel fits in with the best of the Green Gables novels- the ones before Anne got married and completely changed character. This is an Anne learning to love and imagine, to seek out joy and look for the good. It is the part of Anne's life we didn't realize was missing until we read it. Unlike Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Wilson is able to convincingly share the thoughts of a young child in elevated prose, without having to resort to childish sentence construction. While the book starts off slowly with the focus on Anne's parents before her birth, this background is revealed as necessary to understand the psychology of Anne. Afterward, we are gradually immersed in the magical world of Anne Shirley, coming to understand how such an exquisite child could come to be. It so seems like Lucy Montgomery is writing, that one is tempted to think this is true ghost authorship. If you loved the original series, you must read this prequel.

You MUST Read This Book!

I ordered the book because I had read the set of 8 books of Anne of Green Gables and I fell in love with Anne Shirley - her wit and love of life. Maud Montgomery was a gifted writer and it is easy reading. I found that "Before Green Gables" was written as though it had been by Maud M. I too fell in love with P.E.I. when visiting there. It was hard to put the book down! I will read it again in the near future.

A very interesting story

Since I am an octogenarian and male, every one wonders how in the world I ever got myself mixed up with this Anne business anyway. I got myself into this Anne business purely by accident. I have considered myself fairly well read in the male type authors such as Michael Crichen, Tom Clancy, Mark Twain, Jack London, etc.,etc., I just happened to see a movie of Anne of Green Gables. That set me off into an entirely different direction. After going through all of the eight books of the Anne series in just a few weeks (Including a couple of other L.M. Montgomery books,) I just happened on the preguel, 'Before Green Gables' by Budge Wilson. Since no one but the original author can ever write a book exactually how it's supposed to be written, I think that Budge Wilson did a most outstanding and wonderful job with all of the research that she had done to write the book that comes very close on how Montgomery might just have written it. Of course, she put in great detail on how Anne's parents died when she was just months old. Then taken in by the neighbors to be first raised and then be used as a virtual slave by the mother of the very disfunctional family where no love just discord is shown - all of her trials and tribulations - a lost childhood in a very disfunctional family where Anne was treated with no love - where she had to creat her own little world using all of her imagination in order to just keep herself sane. Then she is transfered over to another family almost as bad. Finally her trip to the orphanage where Mrs. Spencer finally finds her and her whole world finally opens up to love and being a little girl again.

A nice visit with Anne

When I first heard about the upcoming prequel to Anne of Green Gables I was nervous about it. It wasn't too far off the mark for me to worry that the new book would not compare to Anne of Green Gables - which is a very beloved novel of mine. However, I was mightily surprised when I read Before Green Gables as it was miraculously able to capture a lot (not all mind you) of Anne's essence that I was originally certain would be missing from this tale. For the die-hards this may still fall a little flat for them as it is missing a lot of LMM's descriptions and humor but it is still a lovely read. I think most fans of the series will enjoy having a new story to take them back to a simpler time with Anne - even if for Anne it was some of her hardest years. I really liked having some answers to where Anne came from, how she was brought up and what her parents were really like.