Anne Shirley, a Canadian Icon Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anne of Green Gables

Life is never the same for Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert after the arrival of an imaginative red-haired orphan girl instead of the boy they had expected to act as an assistant on the farm. The first book of the series, published in 1908, covers Anne's life between roughly the ages of 11 and 16, and include a number of adventures with Diana Barry, who is declared to be her "bosom friend" and "kindred spirit". We also meet Gilbert Blythe, who initially arouses her hostility by teasing her about her hair, but becomes a friend during the book.

The green hair was the result of an attempt to dye it black that went just a bit wrong.

Answer: Anne of Avonlea

The second book of the series, first published in 1909, follows Anne during the two years when she is teacher at Avonlea. She is still hoping to go to college, and gets the opportunity to do so at the end of the book when a widowed Rachel Lynde moves in with Marilla. Dora and Davy are the children of a relatively distant cousin of Marilla's, who come to stay temporarily when they are orphaned, and end up becoming permanent residents.

As in the first book, Anne continues to get into scrapes (selling a neighbour's cow under the mistaken impression that it was Marilla's, accidentally organising for the town hall to be painted blue), but she is definitely growing up.

Answer: Chronicles of Avonlea

"Chronicles of Avonlea", a collection of short stories first published in 1912, was actually mostly written before "Anne of Green Gables". The popularity of the first two books in the series led the publishers to encourage L. M. Montgomery to rewrite some earlier stories to set them in Anne's world, and to include references to Anne.

She only features in two of the stories, one of which is "The Hurrying of Ludovic", referred to in the question. In terms of her life timeline, it is set roughly contemporaneously with "Anne of the Island", as is also the case for the collection "Further Chronicles of Avonlea".

Answer: Anne of the Island

The third book in the series, first published in 1915, follows Anne through her years of study at Redmond College in Kingsport. Partway through, Gilbert acknowledges that he has been in love with Anne for a long time, but Anne turns down his proposal of marriage, holding out for her childhood image of a Prince Charming.

A romantic relationship with Roy Gardner, who fits the description of being tall, dark and handsome, ends when he proposes and Anne realises that he doesn't really fit into her life. Returning home with her B.A. in hand, Anne hears that Gilbert is gravely ill, and may die; only then does she realise how much she loves him, and the night of uncertainty as to whether he will live or not confirms that.

The book ends with the couple becoming engaged.

Answer: Anne of Windy Poplars/Willows

The title in Canada and the USA when this book was first published in 1936 was "Anne of Windy Poplars"; in other countries it was released as "Anne of Windy Willows". The book is in the form of letters written by Anne to Gilbert, while she is living in a house called Windy Poplars with two widows and their housekeeper.

The letters describe both these friends and her struggles to come to grips with the problems raised by the obnoxious Pringle family and an embittered colleague who thinks she deserved the position given to Anne; assorted other residents of the town of Summerside also feature.

At the end of the book, Anne heads home to get married to Gilbert, who has completed his medical training and is ready to set up in practice.

Answer: Anne's House of Dreams

That is only the start of the action in this book, the fourth published in the series (in 1917), but the fifth in terms of Anne's life story. ("Anne of Windy Poplars" was written later, to fill in the gap between this book and "Anne of the Island".) After the wedding which starts the book, the Blythes move to their first home, in the village of Glen St. Mary, which Anne dubs her House of Dreams. Sadly, it is there that their first child dies shortly after she is born.

This tragedy does help Anne become closer friends with a neighbour who had previously envied Anne's happy life, and is softened by the subsequent birth of James Matthew, later to be called Jem.

Answer: Anne of Ingleside

Ingleside is the name of the new house the Blythe family moved to when they outgrew the House of Dreams. This book, first published in 1939, was the last of the series to be published, and covers a period of roughly four years (starting seven years after the end of the previous book) when Anne and Gilbert are busy raising a family.

At the start of the book Jem is 7, Walter Cuthbert is 6, the twins Anne (called Nan) and Diana (called Di) are 5, and Shirley (a boy) is 2. Before the end of the book, the final child, Bertha Marilla (called Rilla) is born.

The children are the focus of most of the events featured in the book.

Answer: Rainbow Valley

First published in 1919, this book focuses on the Blythes' new neighbour - John Meredith is the new minister for Glen St. Mary, and the children of the two families become good friends. John Meredith is a widower, and his children (Jerry, Faith, Una and Carl) have rather run wild, but are good-hearted and willing to learn about socially acceptable behaviour when helped to do so.

They gain a stepmother by the end of the book, and look to be settling down to a stable family life.

Answer: Rilla of Ingleside

Ten years after "Rainbow Valley", World War I commences, and Jem Blyth and Jerry Meredith enlist immediately. Most of the book follows Rilla, as she follows the war news and works on the home front. During the course of the book, Walter enlists, despite his initial reluctance because of his abhorrence of the concept of war, and is killed in action. Shirley also joins the flying corps as soon as he is old enough to do so. Jerry is wounded at Vimy Ridge, and Jem goes missing, but eventually returns home at the end of the war.

This book is much less carefree in tone than is expected for books in this series, but it covers dark times.

Answer: The Blythes are Quoted

This collection of short stories was written shortly before L. M. Montgomery's death in 1942, but was not published until 2009, although an abridged version of the stories, missing the interludes which make it a fitting finish to this quiz on the "Anne of Green Gables" series, was published as "The Road to Yesterday" in 1974.

The stories are not about the Blythes, although they are mentioned in each one. In between the stories are vignettes in which the members of the Blythe family discuss poetry, and samples of poems written by Anne and her son Walter. Most of these poems had already been published as the work of L. M. Montgomery, but were re-attributed for artistic reasons.