Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning

by Kevin Sullivan

Starting in the early 1940s, Anne—now a successful, middle-aged writer—has returned to Prince Edward Island for an extended visit. On a whim, she’s agreed to write a play for part of the White Sands Hotel’s summer stock season, but Anne is forced to admit that the play is nothing more than a way to take her mind off the troublesome recent events in her life. When a long-hidden secret is discovered under the floorboards at Green Gables, it provides a distraction of its own. As Anne struggles to complete the play, she delves into long-buried memories, reliving the troubled years before she arrived as an orphan at the Cuthberts’ farmhouse. Over the course of one remarkable summer, Anne Shirley discovers the truth about her parents, the origins of her quest for “kindred spirits,” and the roots of her brilliant, magical imagination.

290 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Whitney Whiting · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is about Anne as she faces the older years of her life. Her kids are grown and gone, and she is writing again. She delves into her own life story, pre-Green Gables, to write a manuscript. It was fascinating to look at the back story of Anne. (Albeit through a different author's eyes) I also enjoyed seeing Anne as a grandmother and accomplished writer.
I struggled because Anne of Ingleside is one of my favorite books in the Anne series, and in that installment she has 5 going on 6 kids and all kinds of adventures she had never thought to anticipate before becoming a mother. This story tells of Anne having only three children, so I felt it negated the experiences and children of the first, original to Montgomery, tale.

[Thalia · Rating 1 out of 5]

The liberties taken with the story! It's unforgivable. It's all wrong wrong wrong! Did he even read the series?

[Christine Ho · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not Canon. Before Green Gables and Marilla of Green Gables were better written and more consistent with the details of Anne’s life from LM Montgomery’s books.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written well enough but I don’t know why Anne’s beginnings needed to be rewritten. And for that, I found it difficult to give this book anymore than 3 stars.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thing that bothers me about this book is that they killed off Gilbert. Anne and Gilbert should be living together into their old age.

[Samantha]

Starting in the early 1940s, Anne—now a successful, middle-aged writer—has returned to Prince Edward Island for an extended visit. A long-hidden secret is discovered under the floorboards at Green Gables, it provides a distraction. Anne digs into buried memories, reliving the troubled years before she arrived as an orphan at the Cuthberts’ farmhouse. Over the course of one remarkable summer, Anne discovers the truth about her parents, the reason for her desire for “kindred spirits,” The story of Anne continued is worth reading. A wonderful adventure.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book I like it

[Xondra Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for effort.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Half way through I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the rest if the novel, but am so glad I decided finish it.... So worth the read even though its not what I had envisioned for a younger Anne!

[Amy Berti · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not the same perspective on life as LM Montgomery had at all. Terrible.

[Shaelene (aGirlWithBookss) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When reading this book you have to separate it completely from the original Anne series, and look at it as an additional story from the 80’s movies, directed by our author Kevin Sullivan. This story is intended to be the last instalment in his series of movies.
The movies in many ways, is nothing like the book. Events and characters that appear in the book, do not appear so in the movies.
This is more of a reworking than a reimagining.

I liked this book as an addition to the Anne of Green Gables 80’s movies. It was nice to see where Anne’s story line went with Kevin Sullivan’s story.

What I did not appreciate was having Anne being presented to us as a liar when she first came to Green Gables. Basically everything you thought you knew about Anne and her history before Green Gables is all but a lie! Her parents didn’t die when she was just a baby, her father was responsible for her mother’s death and labeled a murder, he then takes off and abandons Anne! She thinks him to be dead but he shows up in her life a lot, even much later!

In some ways I dislike the alternative storyline, and in other ways I really enjoyed it. I still get the fuzzy warm feeling when reading this book as I do with the other Anne books and the 80’s movie, and the writing style is quite similar to L.M Montgomery’s writing.

It’s a decent read if you keep in mind that this adds to the 80’s movies and is quite a divergence from the original books.

A solid 3, almost verging onto a 4.