Rainbow Valley

Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud), 1874-1942Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 444K words
Chapters: 45

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Rainbow Valley by L. M. MontgomeryAuthor: Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud), 1874-1942,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

Rainbow Valley is a later work by Montgomery that shifts focus from Anne herself to a new generation of children, centering on a minister's family and the neighborhood children's daily lives. Grand events are few; instead there are children's quarrels, adventures, kindnesses, and misunderstandings, and the mismatch between the adult world and the innocent perspective. Its strength is in the group portrait: each child has a distinct small personality, the dialogue is lively, and humor comes naturally. The work also touches on family waiting and community mutual aid under the shadow of war, giving the light childhood narrative an added weight of the era. It suits readers already familiar with Montgomery's world who want to read further, and those wishing to experience early twentieth-century Canadian rural life. There is no need to chase the plot; simply follow the children's perspective.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have read the Anne series and wish to explore Montgomery's wider body of work
Readers who enjoy group portraits of children and rural daily-life narratives
Readers interested in early twentieth-century Canadian community life and family themes

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting Anne as the absolute protagonist and wanting only the main Anne storyline
Readers who prefer tight plots and strong dramatic conflict

Reading tips

First clarify the relationships among the several families and children, then enter each chapter's small story
Note the shifts between adult and child perspectives to appreciate the author's humor and warmth
Read alongside The Story Girl to observe continuity and change in Montgomery's writing of childhood

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I read Rainbow Valley without having read the Anne series?

It can be read independently; the main characters are a new generation of children. But familiarity with the Anne series makes it easier to understand some character relationships and background, for a fuller reading experience.

Is this book suitable for children?

The book focuses on children's daily lives in gentle language and suits older children. Some chapters involve war background and family separation, which younger readers may need an adult to explain.

Comments

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About the author

Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud), 1874-1942 Author

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) was a Canadian author best known for her novels about childhood and youth. Her representative work, Anne of Green Gables, created the red-haired orphan Anne Shirley, and several later books continued the character's coming-of-age story, including Anne of the Island and Anne's House of Dreams. The library holds 22 of her works, among them Rilla of Ingleside and Chronicles of Avonlea in addition to the Anne series. Her prose is fresh and warm, with a gift for depicting nature and the inner lives of young women, and her books have been translated into many languages and loved by readers around the world. Public information about her life is limited, so biographical details are not elaborated here.