Emily of New Moon: 09/24/19

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery is the first book in a trilogy. It was written fifteen years after Anne of Green Gables and is a darker, more cynical take on growing up on P.E.I.

Like Anne, Emily is an orphan, but we see first hand how she becomes one. In the first chapter her father succumbs to his illness. She's then picked up by the two unmarried aunts who drew the short straw.

There are similar episodic chapters in Emily's life. She goes to a new school. She's bullied. She makes a friend. She has a falling out. She makes a new friend. She gets in trouble with her aunts. She explores the farm and the farm next door. Etc.

But there's a cynicism that is missing from Anne's narrative. One of her aunts is very religious and very stuck in the previous century. Emily herself isn't as willing to find kindred spirits in fellow students and random strangers. Emily is also prone to revenge fantasies, albeit juvenile ones.

I read Emily of New Moon originally as a child. Back then, I remember being completely enamored / blown away by Emily's lengthy diary entries, as well as her poetry. I was reading a 1988 edition and I don't recall if her spelling errors were corrected by the editors or if I was just such a bad speller to not notice them.

This time I read a 1923 edition. It was a lucky find at my local indie book shop. The text in this edition has Emily's spelling errors, and I'm older and a better speller. So what was my favorite part of the book as a child became a distraction and detraction as an adult reader.

The second book is Emily Climbs (1925)

Four stars

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