'Anne of Windy Willows' by L.M. Montgomery

Or 'The One with the Two Titles'

After finishing Uni, Anne acquires the position of principal teacher at Summerside High School, and lives in a wonderful old-fashioned boarding house with a pair of hospitable widows and their charismatic hired lady. She contends with the Pringles, who consider themselves the Royal family of the district. They're throwing a collective tantrum because their relative's application for the job was passed over in favour of Anne. In the town are plenty of wistful wannabe brides and cantankerous senior women, both LMM's specialties. The Canadian and USA title is Anne of Windy Poplars. It is called Anne of Windy Willows only in the UK, Japan and Australia. My bit of nosing around the internet reveals that the Windy Willows version was always LMM's preferred choice, but her publisher objected on account of its similar sound to Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows.  

What I enjoyed more than ever before.

1) Rebecca Dew! The hired lady at Windy Willows is a legend who's described by one man as 'a nice old cat if you stroke her the right way.' She has none of the trappings we women are often urged to aim for (beauty, marriage, education) but that doesn't bother Rebecca at all. Her delightful shrewdness more than compensates for the lack of these things. I enjoyed all of her blunt observations, not to mention her physical presence. As soon as Anne described her as a 40-something tomato with bright, beady eyes and a snub nose, I knew I'd love this lady. Her love/hate relationship with Dusty Miller the cat is one of the highlights for me.  

2) Katherine Brooke! The softening of Anne's dowdy and grim deputy principal really touched me this time round. Jealous characters can be quite cathartic, since it's an emotion we're taught to sweep under the carpet, and it turns out Katherine is jealous of Anne in every respect. It's easy to look at a person like Katherine and brush off her misery as self inflicted, but that's always short-sighted. Other peoples' shabby treatment of Katherine throughout her life helped shape her bitter attitude, and there's no point denying it. That's often the case for the rest of us too, and it always saddens me to see anyone swallow well-meant guilt trips along the lines of, 'Your sour mind is your own fault.' 

But having said that, our own thoughts are the cure, and Anne's simple prescription is really full of power. 'You can put hate out of your mind. Cure yourself of it.' Their holiday break at Green Gables was one of the most satisfying Christmas sections in a book I've read in a long time. It was great to see Katherine discover that simple things of beauty with the potential to heal us are abundantly available to most of us, no matter how bruised our pasts have left us.  

3) Little Elizabeth Grayson! This loving little girl is forced to live a hushed life with a pair of impatient old crones. She daydreams about her absentee Dad and dreams for a better tomorrow. I like how she switches the different versions of her name to suit the mood she's in. On any given day, she might be Betsy, Beth, Elsie or Betty, but rarely Lizzie, which is reserved for the bleakest moments ever. Personally, I rather like Lizzie these days, as much as all those others.

4) Anne's daring streak really stands out for me this time. She cares enough about her friends to take big risks on their behalf which most of us wouldn't dare contemplate. It's easy to justify doing nothing by claiming it's none of our business, so Anne's bold meddling is super satisfying and pays off big time. Her kindness and courage combine to make one super power. Maybe many of us have only one or the other, but part of Anne's secret is having both.  

5) The Prince Edward Island environment is an understated hero all through the book. We're always getting the salty tang of the sea and seeing the people weave their harbours, bays, headlands and gulfs into their social lives. There are rowing jaunts, shore bonfires, rock dances, clam bakes and other fun things. It makes me consider how my own coastal city I call home is woven into my identity.  

6) These folk lived in an era of patience and expertise which impresses me. I love it when Aunt Chatty of Windy Willows gets hold of Sarah Pringle's delicious pound cake recipe. That recipe really is a big deal, requiring 36 eggs and three days of 'sweating', wrapped in brown paper and towels. No wonder Rebecca Dew comments that they might be able to afford it about once a year. In our generation of instant gratification, including twenty minute flat cake mixes, I do appreciate references to such full-on dedication to the household arts. 

What I wasn't a big fan of this time round.

1) Dare I say it, I'd like a dollar for every time Anne thinks about or mentions her B.A. degree. I was wishing I could tell her I've got one too, and in my era it's not such a big deal. In fact, it's often the source of mirth. I've heard many jokes along the lines of, 'What did the Arts graduate say to the Engineering graduate? The answer is, 'Would you like fries with these?' What would Anne think of an era where her proud achievement alone so often leads to a dead end, since it put her straight in line for a plum job? I wonder if my perspective would deflate her ego, which sometimes seems as puffed up as those sleeves she used to long for! 

2) Along similar lines, her smug tone can get irritating. As a prime example, her student Lewis says, 'I wonder where this Dawlish Road goes to.' Anne replies, 'I might be horrid and school-teacherish and say that it doesn't go anywere; it stays right here. But I won't.' That response got an eye-roll from me. How I wish he'd replied, 'Well, if we're really splitting hairs, you just did.'  

3) I wonder if I'm the only one who'd agree Little Elizabeth's thread was concluded far too quickly.  LMM dashed off the finish of her story toward the end with a bit of heavy-handed and unnecessary melodrama. (Did anyone else get the feeling she just wanted to finish writing the book at this point?) But it didn't stop me wondering what the future held in store for this girl who Anne described as a sensitive Aolean harp, so finely tuned to any breeze of sympathy. 

4) The number of characters who pass through and then never appear again, is bewildering. Yet they each claim to love Anne with great devotion. LMM is back to the episodic plot structure that worked so well in Anne of Green Gables. I discovered that this is one of the books she wrote down the track, long after she thought she'd finished with Anne entirely. The main reason was to give her fans what they demanded, which was more of the format which originally took off so well. Yet I think it makes Anne of Windy Willows feel more at times like a disparate short story collection connected by one character than a novel with a fulfilling arc of its own.    

Some great quotes to take on board.

Anne: I don't like reading about martyrs, because they always make me feel petty and ashamed to admit I hate to get out of bed on frosty mornings and shrink from a visit to the dentist.

Aunt Mouser: After all, even if you aren't very happily married, it's likely you'd be more unhappy not.

Anne: Nobody is ever too old to wear just what she wants to wear. You wouldn't want to wear it if you were too old. 

Anne: In daylight I belong to the world and in the night to sleep and eternity. But in the dusk I'm free from both and belong only to myself.

Aunt Chatty: I've often wondered why things should be arranged so. Me loving to talk with nothing to talk about, and Kate with everything but hating to talk. But I suppose providence knows best. 

Rebecca Dew: If we were all beauties, who would do the work? 

Cousin Ernestine: I can't seem to get over the thought of marrying a minister for love. I'm afraid it's awful irreverent. 

Anne: One can always find something lovely to look at or listen to.

Stay tuned, because next up Anne and Gilbert finally tie the knot at last, in Anne's House of Dreams.