Before Green Gables | 
 enlarge | Author: Budge Wilson
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 69659
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.8
ISBN: 039915468X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780399154683
ASIN: 039915468X
Publication Date: February 21, 2008
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Not great.. July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Many readers are familiar with the life Anne Shirley leads once she arrives at Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert's home but have been left to imagine what life was like for her before she stepped off the train at Bright River Station. Author Budge Wilson takes us into the first eleven years of Anne's world.
In Before Green Gables, we are introduced to Anne's seemingly perfect parents before they die from "the fever." She only gets three months with them before she is sent off to the Thomas household where she will never be loved the same way; in fact, that family will come to see her as an "ugly orphan" who is "just another mouth to feed." The only bright spot in her life is attending school--when she's old enough. When the Thomas family falls apart, she is immediately sent to work for the Hammond family, who have six children under the age of two (three sets of twins), and Anne is expected to take care of them. She remains in this home until it, too, falls apart, and her worst fear comes true--she will be sent to an orphanage. It is every bit as bad as she imagined it would be, and our sweet Anne Shirley hardens her heart to everyone and everything, focusing only on her tragic life and all that she has lost. She throws herself into schoolwork and chores until everything changes the day a lady arrives to select a "girl, about eleven-years-old, who can do hard work" as a favor for some people back home. When the head of the orphanage selects Anne as the girl to fill this request, Anne's life is forever changed.
Readers will appreciate Wilson's attempt to recreate the world L.M.Montgomery conceived for Anne, but they are sure to question some of the choices she made. Was Anne really the Pollyanna-esque character we see here? Was she really so self-possessed at such a young age? However, despite these questions, Wilson provides us with a good story about the red-headed girl we've loved for so many years.
Better Left Alone July 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
I have to admit, this is a book I secretly half-longed for and publicly dreaded (in book club, that is). Let's face it, L.M. Montgomery and Anne Shirley are icons. As much as I wanted to know what happened to Anne before she showed up at the Bright River station, if Montgomery couldn't do it, I was content just to let my imagination do the work. Unfortunately, not everyone felt that way, hence the new book, a prequel to Anne of Green Gables. Don't get me wrong, the book's not all bad, but to accurately assess it, we'll have to take it in two parts.
First of all, the story itself. We first meet Walter and Bertha Shirley, newly weds- poor but happy. They ooze contentment. Soon Anne arrives and the contentment deepens. Her mother adores and pets her, but never regains her strength from the birth. Fever sweeps through the village and it isn't long before Anne is an orphan. She moves to the Thomas household where we hope she'll at least feel some love for the sake of her dead mother, whom Mrs. Thomas worked for and adored. We soon learn that this is too much to hope for and before her fifth birthday, Anne is pressed into service. This is the single longest sojourn of Anne's life and it quickly becomes tedious. There are those who provide Anne with little rays of sunshine, but for the most part, her life is one of drudgery and exhaustion. And it goes on for 200 pages.
After Mr. Thomas' untimely demise, Anne is sent to live with the Hammond family. Anne's hopes are again dashed when she learns that she is not to be anything more than a hired hand. We also see Mrs. Hammond's postnatal depression and how her whole family is sucked into it. Again, there are those who provide Anne with some solace, but the drudgery and misery seem to be black holes that absorb it all.
At Mr. Hammond's death, Anne's greatest fears come true and she arrives at the Hopetown Orphanage. This is the most miserable of all her 'homes' and Anne is stripped several of her pitifully few possessions. Think shades of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Hope glimmers when Anne is chosen to go to Prince Edward Island and live with the Cuthberts and we leave her on the station platform waiting for the future.
In and of itself, the story is mostly consistent with what we know about Anne from Montgomery's telling. However, the story falls flat from Montgomery's hints of a neglected childhood. Certainly Anne is neglected, but it is not the total abandon that Montgomery hints is her background. Anne tells Marilla that no one ever did want her, but Wilson tells us that she was wanted- a few times. There are also inconsistencies in Anne's character and Wilson expects us to believe that Anne was using words like "exquisite" at the age of six. While I know Anne was an extraordinary child, even I cannot stretch my imagination that far.
Second, there is the writing style. Wilson's writing style is to the point. It falls far short from Montgomery's lilting style and the poetry of Anne is totally lost in Wilson's bluntness. There are also topics discussed that Montgomery wouldn't have touched with a ten foot pole. Anne doesn't sound like Anne and the descriptions fall so far short of Montgomery's that it's almost laughable.
Of course, Wilson is not a Montgomery scholar. That much is apparent in her acknowledgments when she thanks a scholar for providing her with references for Montgomery's hints of Anne's history. So she should not be blamed for not knowing Montgomery's style. But if Anne's history required a prequel, would it not have been better to choose a scholar who could put this together for us? Someone who could adopt Montgomery's style or at least some semblance of it?
While the story is a good story and would have been brilliant if it were written for another character, as Anne's story, it doesn't fit. It truly is unfortunate for those of us who love Anne and Montgomery.
 Wonderful read! June 14, 2008
Not really a kid's book, but truly Anne of Green Gables! A tear-jerker in places, but with spots that show you that even the most hopeless places there is light and the right heroine can find happiness and love even in the grim-ist homes. I picked it up and read it in one day, I just couldn't put it down!
My sister enjoyed it. June 2, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased this book for my sister. She has every book written by L. M. Montgomery and loved the "Anne" series. While I personally have not read this book, my sister loved it and said the author did a fantastic job capturing the essence of Anne Shirley.
A worthy prequel May 22, 2008
Those razzing this book need to be realistic. Budge Wilson is not Lucy Maud Montgomery and (though she makes a great effort) cannot quite match her gift of imagery and character development. However, she has crafted a touching and thoughtful prequel which successfully brings back the Anne we all love and answers many questions about what makes the amazing 11-year-old redhead at the train station tick. Yes, it's painful at times to read, but it should be. Anne's life has been one recurring tragedy after another to this point and it would be a betrayal to Montgomery's precious legacy to try to paint over it. That being said, Anne has some wonderful experiences here and the reader shares her pain when ensuing losses make them bittersweet. This book should be embraced by all lovers of Anne and her world and I highly recommend it.
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