"Life is worth living as long as there is a laugh in it"                                                                 

I was beyond excited when Netflix started its new series 'Anne'. It was one of my favourite books in the world when I was a kid. However, I was a little disappointed by it. Although it is a great show in its own right, it fails to follow the story properly just like the movies made earlier. Personally I loved Anne's story. Hence my decision to right this review. Do check out Netflix's 'Anne' as it's a pretty cool show though! It deals with important themes like women impowerment 

Check out the trailer:

https://youtu.be/S5qJXYNNINo

 Many people have read LM Montgomery's 'Anne of Green Gables', which follows the story of Anne Shirley an imaginative, red-headed orphan. What many people don't know is that Anne's story doesn't end there.

 ' Anne of Green Gables' follows Anne aged 11 to 16. How she comes to Green Gables which is in the fictional village of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, Canada and her crazy adventures. How she brightens the lives of everyone who meets her, from stern Marilla Cuthbert to mean old Aunt Josephine Barry. One can laugh at Anne's dramatic speeches and her antics of flaring into temper when her name is spelled like 'Ann' instead of 'Anne', setting her friend accidentally drunk, dying her hair green and breaking a slate over enemy Gilbert Blythe's head. One thing is for sure; things are never boring with Anne around!

After that comes 'Anne of Avonlea' which starts where 'Anne of Green Gables' ended. Anne is 16 and is about to start teaching at the local school in Avonlea. It introduces many new characters such as crabby,hot tempered Mr Harrison, sweet old Miss Lavender and her ridiculous maid Charlotta the fourth, Paul Irving, as well as the twins Davy and Dora. 'Anne of Avonlea' tells us about Anne's life as a teacher and how she struggles to cope with all the changes that come with growing up. By the end of the book Anne, along with now friend Gilbert Blythe, Pricilla Grant and Charlie Sloane, is going off to Redmond College.

The third book 'Anne of the Island' begins two weeks after 'Anne of Avonlea' left off. Anne is 18 and leaving for Redmond in Nova Scotia. Once she gets there she makes new friends including Roy Gardener; a handsome, wealthy boy who Anne believes she's in love with. The book follows Anne through her 4 years at Redmond and has quite an interesting plot as it deals with a series of love triangles, comic scenes and a twist round the middle.

In the fourth book 'Anne of Windy Poplars' Anne is 22, engaged to Gilbert Blythe, done with Redmond and leaving for Summerside, a nearby town where she will be principal of Summerside high school for 3 years. 'Anne of Windy Poplars' introduces yet another set of new characters like Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty two widows at whose house Anne boards and their fat,red,madcap housekeeper Rebecca Dew. Little Elizabeth, Katherine Brooke a rude, bad tempered teacher and the Pringles are also introduced. The Pringles, a powerful clan known as the 'royal family' of Summerside, dislike Anne solely because she got the job of principal instead of one of the Pringles getting it. The Pringles are out to get rid of her. 'Windy Poplars' tells us Anne's story aged 22-25 and revolves around the question ' how will Anne win over the Pringles?'

The next book is 'Anne's House of Dreams'. Anne's years at Summerside are over, she is 25 and is about to marry Gilbert Blythe. This book chronicles Anne's first 3 years of being married. She leaves Avonlea and goes to live in the nearby village of Glen St Mary. Anne and Gilbert meet new friends such as interesting old sailor Captain Jim, funny, man hating Miss Cornelia Bryant, housekeeper Susan Baker and Anne's mysterious, beautiful neighbor Leslie Moore. 'Anne's House of Dreams' deals with a lot of romance, comedy , mystery and tragedy. There is a very tragic twist in the middle of the book which had me crying but a shocking revelation at the end ensures a happy ending.

Book 6 'Anne of Ingleside' takes place 5-6 years after the end of 'Anne's House of Dreams'. Anne is now 34 and has 6 crazy children and has shifted to another house in Glen St Mary which is called Ingleside. Anne's children; James ( Jem) aged 7, Walter aged 6 , twins Anne and Diana ( Nan and Di ) aged 4 and Shirley aged 2 and baby Bertha Marilla ( Rilla) , are a set of crazy, lovable children and get into as many scrapes as their mother. 'Anne of Ingleside' covers 6 years and mostly tells the stories of Anne's children like how Walter walked home six miles from a friend's house at midnight cause he was scared and how Rilla thought Gilbert was a murderer because his picture was in the newspaper and she thought only murders had their picture taken. This book also introduces Gilbert's aunt, Mary Maria Blythe, who comes to live in Ingleside and makes everyone's life a misery. How will Anne find a way to get her to leave,and soothe each child's troubles and comical worries !

The next book is 'Rainbow Valley',set 3 months after 'Anne of Ingleside'. Anne has become almost a secondary character. This book revolves around the Blythe kids and their new friends; the Merediths. The Merediths, sensible Jerry aged 12, feisty Faith aged 11, shy Una aged 10 and animal lover Carl aged 9 are a set of mischievous, good hearted kids whose mother is dead and their father the minister has no time for them. Thus they run wild and constantly shock the village by riding pigs through town and printing ridiculous articles in the newspaper. Another new character introduced is Mary Vance, a poor orphan with a sharp tongue and colorful language who the Merediths take in. Together the Blythes, Merediths and Mary spend their free time in the pretty woods behind Ingleside and hatch all sorts of plots. These woods are named by Walter as Rainbow Valley. 'Rainbow Valley' also gives readers some hints about the dark future to come

The final book ' Rilla of Ingleside ' set in 1914, 9 years after 'Rainbow Valley' is my personal favourite. Telling the story of World War One through the eyes of Anne's youngest child Rilla now aged 15, it is a perfect and exhilarating blend of comedy, romance,history,drama and tragedy. While the other books were happy, this one is rather dark. As Rilla's oldest brother Jem enlists as a soldier at the start of the war, she starts a diary telling us her thoughts and feelings about the war, her daily life and her horror when her favourite brother Walter  joins the war as well. This book deals with Rilla's funny adventures and mishaps like turning up at home with a baby in a soup tureen and going to an important party with bedroom slippers on !  We see Rilla evolve from being vain and self centered to a mature and responsible young woman. This book gives a readers an insight into what life was like during WW1 as it is a mix of fiction and historic non fiction. Close to the middle of the book comes an awful and heart wrenching tragedy (that broke my heart)and we see how Rilla copes with and tries to overcome it. As Shirley too joins the war, Rilla questions whether the war will ever be won and this suspense and suffering and dreading ever end? And will her childhood crush Ken ever look at her as something other than his friend's baby sister?  

 For those who want to know what happens to Anne and the other Blythes next, Montgomery wrote a book called 'The Blythes are Quoted' telling short about the other inhabitants of Glen St Mary and mentioning Anne and her family. However, due to its anti WW2 message it was not published during Montgomery's life time. Almost 60 years later a revised edition named 'Road to Yesterday' was published but in 2005 'The Blythes are Quoted' has become available too. Montgomery also wrote short stories about Avonlea called ' Road to Avonlea' which mentions Anne as well. She also wrote other novels like the Emily trilogy.

In Prince Edward Island, Canada, one can step into Anne's world by visiting Avonlea Village, a tourist destination which has everything mentioned in the first two books including Green Gables house itself!

If you read or have already read the Anne books please let me know in the comments below. I'd absolutely love hearing your view on them. Also if you've watched 'Anne' on Netflix, tell me what you thought of it! 

If there is any books you want me to review, let me know in the comments and I'll try my best to write one. If you want me too review on of your own works just give the following in the comment section:

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 Thanks for reading. Hoped you liked it. Lots of love, Rose