Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Road to Yesterday

The volume of short stories by L. M. Montgomery, The Road to Yesterday, instantly transported me back to childhood when I raced through the entire Anne of Green Gables series. Set in the small village where Anne and Gilbert Blythe have settled to raise their family, the stories concern the people surrounding the Blythes. Anne and Gilbert make cameo appearances here and there, but they are mostly mentioned in passing. Most of these mentions, however, occur in the form of snide remarks. It is quite blasphemous, in fact, the way the townspeople talk about the family--she is too clever for her own good and acts superior, he is accused of being too flirtatious with his nurses. One suspects most of this is mere jealousy, but it is hard to read for a devoted fan of the original series!

The events in the stories are familiar fare to fans of Montgomery's work--hard-luck orphans who suddenly find themselves in fortuitous circumstances, old maids finding love late in life, and serendipitous mistaken identities. They are a little more worldly than the original Anne books, with a couple involving illegitimate children and parents in jail, but they are charming stories nonetheless.

One story includes an appearance by Walter Blythe, the son who resembled his mother's spirit the most. I instantly remembered the moment in the series when he is killed in World War I. It is the first book I remember crying openly at. While these stories aren't quite as good as the novels in the series, the mere chance at seeing these beloved characters again makes it worth it.

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