Rilla of Ingleside
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| Rilla of Ingleside | |
 Starfire 1985 Paperback edition |
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| Author | Lucy Maud Montgomery |
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| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Series | Anne of Green Gables |
| Genre(s) | Children's Literature |
| Publication date | 1921 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN |
| Preceded by | Rainbow Valley |
Rilla of Ingleside (1921) 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. It has a more serious tone, as it takes place during World War I and the three Blythe boys - Jem, Walter, and Shirley - end up fighting in Europe.
The book is dedicated: "To the memory of FREDERICA CAMPBELL MACFARLANE who went away from me when the dawn broke on January 25, 1919–a true friend, a rare personality, a loyal and courageous soul."
It is interesting to note that Rilla of Ingleside is the only Canadian novel written from a women's perspective about the First World War by a contemporary.
[edit] Plot summary
Set almost a decade after Rainbow Valley, Europe is on the brink of the First World War, and Anne's youngest daughter Rilla is an irrepressible 14-year-old, excited about her first adult party and heedless of the chaos that the Western world is entering. Her parents worry because Rilla seems not to have any serious plans for her life, and is more concerned with having fun.
Once the Continent descends into war, her brothers and friends promptly enlist. With her sisters at college, Rilla is left anxiously alone at home. As the war drags on, Rilla matures, organising the Junior Red Cross society in her village.
While collecting donations, she comes across a house where a woman has just died in childbirth and her husband is away at war. Rilla takes the sickly little boy back to Ingleside in a soup tureen, naming him "James Kitchener Anderson" after his father and the British Prime Minister. Rilla's father Gilbert Blythe challenges her to raise the war orphan, and although she doesn't like babies at all, she rises to the occasion.
Along with the rest of her family, Rilla deals with the spread of the war and the death of millions, as well as her brother Jem's disappearance and her other brother Walter's death in the battlefields. Meanwhile, the boy she is in love with, Kenneth Ford, begins to court her, but leaves to fight as soon as an old injury heals, leaving an even more anxious and depressed Rilla to wait at home.
At the end of the volume, the Glen St. Mary boys come home from the war, full of scars and permanent handicaps. Life begins to return to normal.
Mary Vance and Miller Douglas get married, with Miller deciding to follow a career in Mr. Flagg's store after losing a leg in the war.
Jem is engaged to his sweetheart Faith Meredith, and goes to Kingsport to finish studying medicine and become a surgeon. Jerry Meredith becomes engaged to Rilla's sister Nan and goes to Kingsport to finish college and pursue his career as a minister.
Faith and Nan decide to teach at nearby schools while waiting for the boys, along with Rilla's other sister Diana. Carl Meredith and Shirley Blythe also leave for Redmond with Una, who is going to take a Household Science course to begin a career to help her forget the death of her beloved Walter.
Kenneth proposes to Rilla with a romantic "Is it Rilla-my-Rilla?" -- to which Rilla lisps, "Yeth."
[edit] 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 age |
| 1 | Anne of Green Gables | 1908 | 11 — 16 |
| 2 | Anne of Avonlea | 1909 | 16 — 18 |
| 3 | Anne of the Island | 1915 | 18 — 22 |
| 4 | Anne of Windy Poplars | 1936 | 22 — 25 |
| 5 | Anne's House of Dreams | 1917 | 25 — 27 |
| 6 | Anne of Ingleside | 1939 | 34 — 40 |
| 7 | Rainbow Valley | 1919 | 41 |
| 8 | Rilla of Ingleside | 1921 | 49 — 53 |
| # | Book | Date published | Anne Shirley's age |
| — | Chronicles of Avonlea | 1912 | — |
| — | Further Chronicles of Avonlea | 1920 | — |
[edit] External links
- Rilla of Ingleside, available at Project Gutenberg.
- A searchable online version of Rilla of Ingleside
- An L.M. Montgomery Resource Page - excellent resource on L.M. Montgomery and her novels
- 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.
- RILLA OF INGLESIDE BUILD-A-BOOK Initiative at the Celebration of Women Writers
- Rilla of Ingleside LibriVox (free audiobooks of public domain)
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