Beyond Anne of Green Gables: The Other Novels of L.M. Montgomery

We’re huge L. M. Montgomery fans here at Pages Unbound. We’ve hosted an L. M. Montgomery reading event and an Anne of Green Gables read-along. We wrote a quiz for you to find out which Montgomery heroine you are most like, which Montgomery hero you should be with, and which of Anne Shirley’s friends you share a personality with. We’ve written reviews for nearly all of her books and wrote a ton of other posts, such as lessons from Anne Shirley and others I won’t list because I could go on and on.

However, nearly every time we post about an L. M. Montgomery book that is not Anne of Green Gables, at least one lovely commenter says that they had no idea Montgomery wrote anything besides Anne of Green Gables!  This is just shocking, I tell you, absolutely shocking.  Since I can no longer allow people to go on unaware of all the wonderful L. M. Montgomery novels they could be reading, I here introduce to you her books besides the Anne series.  There are brief descriptions below the infographic, and you can look forward to future posts from Krysta about how to pick the best L. M. Montgomery book to read next based on your mood, Hogwarts House, etc. (And, yes, there are eight Anne books, for those of you who thought Anne of Green Gables was the only one!)

L. M. Montgomery also wrote poetry and a number of short stories conveniently published in various volumes, as well as an autobiography called The Alpine Path, but we’ll leave those for another day.

L. M. Montgomery’s Children’s Series

Pat of Silver Bush

A young girl grows up on a Prince Edward Island farm.  Pat dislikes change and wants to stay at Silver Bush forever, happy with her family, but life goes on and friends and even family must come and go.  One of Montgomery’s few works where both the protagonist’s parents are alive and well. She also has siblings!

Emily of New Moon

When Emily’s father dies, she is sent to live with her mother’s family, the stern and well-respected Murray clan, on Prince Edward Island.  At first she dislikes their ways and their pride, and the way they frowned on her parents’ marriage, but she soon makes fast friends with three local children and begins to foster her love of writing. One of Montgomery’s more Gothic-inspired series.

The Story Girl

Sara Stanley is so good at telling stories that she has been dubbed “the Story Girl” and adults and children alike gather to hear her stories.  The novel covers the lives of Sara and her cousins, as well as some of the stories she tells.

L. M. Montgomery Children’s Stand-alones

Jane of Lantern Hill

Jane isn’t entirely certain about going to visit her father on Prince Edward Island; in fact, she had thought he was dead!  But she soon comes to build a relationship with both him and the island and starts to dream of building a new life.

Magic for Marigold

Marigold was almost not named Marigold; it was her mother’s dying wish, but the rest of the family thinks it’s too much!  Yet a serendipitous turn of events mean she’s named Marigold after all, and the luck and the magic never stop coming into her life.  Montgomery’s youngest protagonist.

Kilmeny of the Orchard

When Eric Marshall goes to teach temporarily in a small town, he has no plans of falling in love, until he encounters an enchanting girl with a mysterious past.  One of Montgomery’s few texts written from a male point of view.

L. M. Montgomery’s Adult Books

A long time ago I read that these are Montgomery’s only two books intended for adults. It seemed odd to me at the time because, obviously, adults enjoy all of Montgomery’s books and I don’t know how many people consciously think of Anne of Green Gables as a children’s book. However, it sort of makes sense. The protagonists of both of these book are adults, and I think the general point-of-view on matters like social standards, marriage, etc. are slightly more mature (not as in “more risque,” just more what an adult with different experiences would think, vs. a child).

A Tangled Web

Before Aunt Becky dies, she tells her clan that she’s going to leave a cherished heirloom jug to one of them–but they won’t know the beneficiary until one year after her passing.  Even worse: she’s not going to tell them how she’s deciding who gets it, so they’ll have to be on their best behavior just in case she’s instructed someone still living to decide who gets it in a year. Shenanigans ensue as everyone competes for chance at the jug.  It’s a ridiculous-sounding premise when you say it’s a novel about people fighting over a jug, but the book is magic and one of Montgomery’s strongest works. It’ also the only one written with multiple points of view, hence the tangled web.

The Blue Castle

Valancy Stirling is known among her family for people respectable, staid, and on the verge of becoming an old maid–if she isn’t one already.  But when Valancy receives a dire medical diagnosis, she decides she wants to enjoy the rest of her life and proposes to one of the area’s most notorious men!  She has no idea what’s worse, though: dying, or not dying and looking like she swindled her husband into marrying her.