Anne's House of Dreams
Encyclopedia
Anne's House of Dreams is a novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery
. It was first published in 1917 by McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart
.
The novel is from a series of books written primarily for girls and young women, about a young girl named Anne Shirley
. The books follow the course of Anne's life. It is set principally on Canada's Prince Edward Island
, Montgomery's birthplace and home for much of her life.
The series has been called classic children's literature, and has been reprinted many times since its original publication.
Anne's House of Dreams is book five in the series, and chronicles Anne's early married life, as she and her childhood sweetheart Gilbert Blythe
begin to build their life together.
In Four Winds, Anne and Gilbert meet many interesting people, such as Captain Jim, a former sailor who is now the keeper of the lighthouse, and Miss Cornelia Bryant, an unmarried woman in her 40s who lives alone in an emerald-green house and deems the Blythes part of "the race that knows Joseph." Anne also meets her new neighbor, Leslie Moore, who lost her beloved brother and her father, and then was forced by her mother to marry the mean-spirited and unscrupulous Dick Moore at age 16. She felt free for a year or so after Dick disappeared on a sea voyage, but Captain Jim happened upon him in Cuba and brought him home, amnesiac, brain-damaged and generally helpless, and now dependent on Leslie like a "big baby." Leslie becomes friends with Anne, but is sometimes bitter towards her because she is so happy and free, when Leslie can never have what Anne does.
Anne's former guardian Marilla visits her occasionally and still plays an important role in her life. Marilla is present when Anne gives birth to her first child, Joyce, who dies shortly after birth (as Montgomery's second son did). After the baby's death, Anne and Leslie become closer as Leslie feels that Anne now understands tragedy and pain -- as Leslie puts it, her happiness, although still great, is no longer perfect, so there is less of a gulf between them.
Later in the story, Leslie rents a room in her house to a writer named Owen Ford, who is the grandson of the former owners of Anne's House of Dreams, the Selywns. Owen, who is looking to write the Great Canadian Novel, finds the inspiration he was looking for in Captain Jim's shipboard diary, and transforms it into "The Life-Book of Captain Jim." While Owen is finishing the novel, he and Leslie independently realize they have feelings for each other, but both know they cannot do anything about them. Owen leaves the Island and Leslie is even more miserable being trapped in her marriage to Dick.
Gilbert examines Dick Moore and suspects that if Dick underwent surgery on his skull, he might recover his faculties. Anne and Miss Cornelia are both opposed to the surgery, fearing that Leslie's life will become infinitely harder if Dick returns to himself, but Gilbert feels obligated to let Leslie know there is a chance for Dick. Leslie consents, and Dick undergoes the surgery in Montreal; when he awakens, he reveals that he is actually Dick's cousin George, who accompanied Dick to Cuba and was with him when Dick died of yellow fever twelve years before. George resembles Dick strongly because their fathers were brothers and their mothers were sisters, and both had the same peculiar eye coloring abnormality (heterochromia
) by which Captain Jim recognized "Dick" in Cuba years before.
Leslie, abruptly set free by this news, returns home, and considers taking a nursing course to get on with her life. Owen Ford returns to the Island to court Leslie after Miss Cornelia informs him of what has happened, and they become engaged. While this is going on, Anne gives birth to her second child, a healthy son. He is named James Matthew, for Anne's guardian Matthew Cuthbert and for Captain Jim.
At the end of the book, Owen Ford's book is published, and Captain Jim dies with a smile on his face after reading his advance copy. Miss Cornelia, thought to be a confirmed spinster, announces that she has decided to marry Marshall Elliott, who may be a Grit but at least is a Presbyterian; she says she could have had him at any time but refused to marry him until he shaved his beard off, which he had refused to do for twenty years until the Grits came into power. Finally, Anne, Gilbert, Jem and their new housekeeper, Susan Baker, move to the old Morgan house in the Glen, later to be named Ingleside. Anne is greatly saddened to leave the House of Dreams, but knows that the little house is outgrown and Gilbert's work as a doctor requires him to live closer to town.
This book introduces Susan Baker, the elderly spinster who is the Blythes' maid-of-all-work.
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE , called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L.M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success...
. It was first published in 1917 by McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
.
The novel is from a series of books written primarily for girls and young women, about a young girl named Anne Shirley
Anne Shirley
Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Montgomery wrote in her journal that the idea for Anne's story came from relatives who, planning to adopt an orphaned boy, received a girl instead...
. The books follow the course of Anne's life. It is set principally on Canada's Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, Montgomery's birthplace and home for much of her life.
The series has been called classic children's literature, and has been reprinted many times since its original publication.
Anne's House of Dreams is book five in the series, and chronicles Anne's early married life, as she and her childhood sweetheart Gilbert Blythe
Gilbert Blythe
Gilbert Blythe is a fictional character in Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series of novels.In the CBC Television film adaptations of the 1980s, Gilbert Blythe is portrayed by Jonathan Crombie. For the 1934 film adaption, Gilbert is portrayed by Tom Brown. In the Japanese anime...
begin to build their life together.
Plot summary
The book begins with Anne and Gilbert's wedding, which takes place in the Green Gables orchard. After the wedding, they move to their first home together, which Anne calls their "house of dreams." Gilbert finds them a small house on the seashore at Four Winds Point, an area near the village of Glen St. Mary, where he is to take over his uncle's medical practice.In Four Winds, Anne and Gilbert meet many interesting people, such as Captain Jim, a former sailor who is now the keeper of the lighthouse, and Miss Cornelia Bryant, an unmarried woman in her 40s who lives alone in an emerald-green house and deems the Blythes part of "the race that knows Joseph." Anne also meets her new neighbor, Leslie Moore, who lost her beloved brother and her father, and then was forced by her mother to marry the mean-spirited and unscrupulous Dick Moore at age 16. She felt free for a year or so after Dick disappeared on a sea voyage, but Captain Jim happened upon him in Cuba and brought him home, amnesiac, brain-damaged and generally helpless, and now dependent on Leslie like a "big baby." Leslie becomes friends with Anne, but is sometimes bitter towards her because she is so happy and free, when Leslie can never have what Anne does.
Anne's former guardian Marilla visits her occasionally and still plays an important role in her life. Marilla is present when Anne gives birth to her first child, Joyce, who dies shortly after birth (as Montgomery's second son did). After the baby's death, Anne and Leslie become closer as Leslie feels that Anne now understands tragedy and pain -- as Leslie puts it, her happiness, although still great, is no longer perfect, so there is less of a gulf between them.
Later in the story, Leslie rents a room in her house to a writer named Owen Ford, who is the grandson of the former owners of Anne's House of Dreams, the Selywns. Owen, who is looking to write the Great Canadian Novel, finds the inspiration he was looking for in Captain Jim's shipboard diary, and transforms it into "The Life-Book of Captain Jim." While Owen is finishing the novel, he and Leslie independently realize they have feelings for each other, but both know they cannot do anything about them. Owen leaves the Island and Leslie is even more miserable being trapped in her marriage to Dick.
Gilbert examines Dick Moore and suspects that if Dick underwent surgery on his skull, he might recover his faculties. Anne and Miss Cornelia are both opposed to the surgery, fearing that Leslie's life will become infinitely harder if Dick returns to himself, but Gilbert feels obligated to let Leslie know there is a chance for Dick. Leslie consents, and Dick undergoes the surgery in Montreal; when he awakens, he reveals that he is actually Dick's cousin George, who accompanied Dick to Cuba and was with him when Dick died of yellow fever twelve years before. George resembles Dick strongly because their fathers were brothers and their mothers were sisters, and both had the same peculiar eye coloring abnormality (heterochromia
Heterochromia
In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris but also of hair or skin. Heterochromia is a result of the relative excess or lack of melanin...
) by which Captain Jim recognized "Dick" in Cuba years before.
Leslie, abruptly set free by this news, returns home, and considers taking a nursing course to get on with her life. Owen Ford returns to the Island to court Leslie after Miss Cornelia informs him of what has happened, and they become engaged. While this is going on, Anne gives birth to her second child, a healthy son. He is named James Matthew, for Anne's guardian Matthew Cuthbert and for Captain Jim.
At the end of the book, Owen Ford's book is published, and Captain Jim dies with a smile on his face after reading his advance copy. Miss Cornelia, thought to be a confirmed spinster, announces that she has decided to marry Marshall Elliott, who may be a Grit but at least is a Presbyterian; she says she could have had him at any time but refused to marry him until he shaved his beard off, which he had refused to do for twenty years until the Grits came into power. Finally, Anne, Gilbert, Jem and their new housekeeper, Susan Baker, move to the old Morgan house in the Glen, later to be named Ingleside. Anne is greatly saddened to leave the House of Dreams, but knows that the little house is outgrown and Gilbert's work as a doctor requires him to live closer to town.
This book introduces Susan Baker, the elderly spinster who is the Blythes' maid-of-all-work.
Series
Montgomery continued the story of Anne Shirley in a series of sequels. They are listed in the order of Anne's age in each novel.| # | Book | Date published | Anne Shirley's agehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anne%27s_House_of_Dreams&action=edit§ion=2 |
| 1 | Anne of Green Gables Anne of Green Gables Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. Set in 1878, it was written as fiction for readers of all ages, but in recent decades has been considered a children's book... |
1908 | 11 —16 |
| 2 | Anne of Avonlea Anne of Avonlea -Plot introduction:Following Anne of Green Gables , the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley. This book follows Anne from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea school. It includes many of the characters from Anne of Green Gables, as well as new... |
1909 | 16 —18 |
| 3 | Anne of the Island Anne of the Island Anne of the Island is a the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series, written by Lucy Maud Montgomery about Anne Shirley.Anne of the Island was published in 1915, seven years after the bestselling Anne of Green Gables... |
1915 | 18 —22 |
| 4 | Anne of Windy Poplars Anne of Windy Poplars Anne of Windy Poplars, also published as Anne of Windy Willows in the UK, Australia and Japan, is an epistolary novel by L. M. Montgomery. First published in 1936 by McClelland and Stewart, it details Anne Shirley's experiences over three years teaching at a high school in Summerside, Prince Edward... |
1936 | 22 —25 |
| 5 | Anne's House of Dreams | 1917 | 25 —27 |
| 6 | Anne of Ingleside Anne of Ingleside Anne of Ingleside is a children's novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. It was first published in August 1939 by George G. Harrap & Co Ltd. It is the sixth book in the chronology and the final book to be published.... |
1939 | 34 —40 |
| 7 | Rainbow Valley Rainbow Valley Rainbow Valley is the seventh book in the chronology of the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, although it was the fifth book published... |
1919 | 41 |
| 8 | Rilla of Ingleside Rilla of Ingleside Rilla of Ingleside is the final book in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but was the sixth of the eight "Anne" novels she wrote. This book draws the focus back onto a single character, Anne and Gilbert's youngest daughter Bertha Marilla "Rilla" Blythe... |
1921 | 49 — 53 |
| # | Book | Date published | Anne Shirley's age |
| — | Chronicles of Avonlea Chronicles of Avonlea Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by L. M. Montgomery, related to the Anne of Green Gables series. It features an abundance of stories relating to the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea, and was first published in 1912.... |
1912 | — |
| — | Further Chronicles of Avonlea Further Chronicles of Avonlea Further Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by L. M. Montgomery and is a sequel to Chronicles of Avonlea. Published in 1920, it includes a number of stories relating to the inhabitants of the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea and its region, located on Prince Edward Island.-... |
1920 | — |
| — | The Blythes Are Quoted The Blythes Are Quoted The Blythes Are Quoted is a book completed by L.M. Montgomery near the end of her life as the ninth book in her beloved Anne of Green Gables series... |
2009 | — |
External links
- The L.M. Montgomery Research Group This scholarly site includes a blog, an extensive bibliography of reference materials, and a complete filmography of all adaptations of Montgomery texts.
- The L.M. Montgomery Literary Society This site includes information about Montgomery's works and life and research from the newsletter, The Shining Scroll.