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    Rilla of Ingleside
    Rilla of Ingleside
    Rilla of Ingleside
    Audiobook10 hours

    Rilla of Ingleside

    Written by Lucy Maud Montgomery

    Narrated by Emily Durante

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Anne's children were almost grown up, except for pretty, high-spirited Rilla. No one could resist her bright hazel eyes and dazzling smile. Rilla, almost fifteen, can't think any further ahead than going to her very first dance at the Four Winds lighthouse and getting her first kiss from handsome Kenneth Ford. But undreamed-of challenges await the irrepressible Rilla when the world of Ingleside becomes endangered by a far-off war. Her brothers go off to fight, and Rilla brings home an orphaned newborn in a soup tureen. She is swept into a drama that tests her courage and leaves her changed forever.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 25, 2011
    ISBN9781452670942
    Author

    Lucy Maud Montgomery

    Lucy Maud Montgomery was born on Prince Edward Island, Canada, in 1874 and raised by her maternal grandparents following her mother's death when she was just two years old. Biographical accounts of her upbringing suggest a strict and rather lonely childhood. She later spent a number of years working as a teacher before turning to journalism and then, ultimately to fiction writing. While Anne of Green Gables was completed in 1905 Montgomery was at first unable to find a publisher for it and - having set it aside for a while - eventually found a champion for it in the Page Company of Boston. Her first novel - and the one which was to prove by far her most successful - was published in 1908 and has remained in print the world over ever since. In creating the uniquely memorable Anne, Montgomery gave the world of classic fiction one of its most enduring heroines.

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    Reviews for Rilla of Ingleside

    4.5/5

    36 ratings32 reviews

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    • 4/5
      3.75 starsRilla Blythe is Anne and Gilbert's youngest child, and this final book in the Anne of Green Gables series primarily focuses on her. The book is set during World War I, so many of the local boys are going off to war, including brothers, friends, and sweethearts. Over the course of the book, Rilla goes from 15 to 19 years old, and besides having to deal with her brothers going to fight in the war, she discovers a "war baby" - a baby whose mother has died and whose father is overseas fighting - and despite not liking babies, she vows to take care of him. I liked this much better than the previous book, Rainbow Valley, I think in part because the "kids" are older, and also because of the time period it was set in, which was very interesting. I don't think I've read other fiction set during WWI. It's hard for me to compare with the rest of the Anne series because it was far too long ago that I read them. I thought Rilla was very likable and charming, similar to Anne when she was younger, and I was amused to find her in a few scrapes that also reminded me of a younger Anne! I may have rated it even higher, except, in particular as I was reading the start of the book, my mind tended to be on other worries. However, once I really focused more on it, it was definitely a very good book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is, if not the best book in the series, the second best. The novel is unique because it tells the story of the home front in Canada during World War I - one of the few to do so, and written just a few years after the end of the war. There are scenes that had me crying so that I couldn't read the text - who could forget Dog Monday greeting Jem? And there are Ideas in this book - noble and true and inspirational ideas. War is an ugly thing - but there are things worth dying for and Ms. Montgomery makes a case for the value of the things we pay dearly for. As a side note, I discovered that my treasured paperback copy is actually a slightly abridged version - the original 1921 novel is a bit more wordy and there are a number of funny "Susan" speeches that have been cut. The original novel has a subtly different flavor to it and is worth reading.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This last book in the "Anne" series was, by far, my favourite. Set during the years of World War I, it gave a wonderful insight into what the women, who had brothers, husbands and lovers on the front, had to endure for four long, torturous years. Unable to protect their men, they put on brave faces and went to work keeping vigil, knitting and baking for the soldiers and planning rushed weddings. As Rilla's world crashed around her and challenges bombarded her, she had to grow up quickly, In those unpredictable times, she went from a naive, frivolous teenager to a mature, strong, young woman.I shed tears throughout "Rilla of Ingleside" far more than I did in another "Anne: book and Dog Monday's story had me sobbing. It was so incredibly moving and I could clearly picture him - dear, faithful, little dog.I also liked the analogy of the Pied Piper calling the boys to war. The author did this beautifully and Walter's poem was truly poignant. I also loved following his journey. Walter was such a gentle, sensitive soul and his letter to Rilla was powerful.While the "Anne" series had its ups and downs, "Rilla of Ingleside" finished the series perfectly. A true classic.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      For once, when a book claims to change your life, it actually does.

      I still remember the evening I sat down with Rilla of Ingleside. 'Misery in books is overrated', I thought, and honestly, very few books have the knack of reaching deep into you- and twisting your heart. This is one of them.

      It's 1914, and the Great War is almost upon the world. However, cocooned in her secure world at Ingleside, Rilla's only worry is that she might not be attending a 'very important dance' and might not appear pretty enough. Shallow, you think? Honest. How many young girls can appreciate the consequences of a war?

      Through this book- you can see Rilla's character grow- the volunteering at Red Cross society, the gritting of teeth as she adopts an orphan. When she finally realises the sacrifices that country and honor demand, she gives it her all.

      As alwats, Montgomery weaves her magic thoroughly. This book has humour in parts, yes, but has a core of steel through it- duty, honor, sacrifice, and the love that only family can provide.

      My copy of Rilla of Ingleside is worn, and yellowed, but I wouldn't exchange it for anything in the world. (except for an autographed copy by LMM. :D ) Because that's the true sign of a great book- you never want to let go of YOUR copy of it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I've read this book thrice in my life, and I'm pretty sure I was teary-eyed all three times.I mean, the fact that you don't even need to know what "The Piper" by Private Walter Blythe said in order to know what it said... *sigh*

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Interesting to read a book published almost 100 years ago, when WWI was just over and WWII not even thought of. Rilla, Anne & Gilbert's youngest, is a fairly flightly girl at 15, until the war arrives & her brothers and sweetheart join up. While collecting $$ for the war effort, she stops at a home where the mother of a newborn has passed away & the aunt of the child is drunk. So, flighty Rilla takes Jims home in a soup tureen, because she didn't want the "war orphan" packed away to an orphanage while Dad is overseas.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery; bk 8; (4 1/2*)This is an endearing book. Montgomery has written it in a nostalgic manner which I think some readers may not care for but which I enjoyed a great deal.Anne with an e, and the good doctor's children are grown and growing up. The eve of the Great War is upon us with all of its darkness, horrors, losses and sadness. I did not realize the impact of the Great War upon Canada and it's citizens.The youngest daughter in the family, Rilla, is our main character but this narrative has loads of interesting characters. Not the least of which is the family dog, Dog Monday, who loves Jem with a passion unknown to most of mankind. Also there is the hysterically funny family feline, Doc, so named for his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde persona. The story is filled with the lives and loves of the young people. So many of the young men of the Glen sign up to go as soon as the call comes. We hear of them in their letters to Rilla and in the journal she faithfully keeps.I loved how the young folk had a special little valley where they went for play and as they grew up they met there for talking, sharing, thinking, and wooing. The relationship that Rilla shared with her brother Walter, was so special and quite took me back to my own relationship with my brother Sam, who also died a young and violent death.....though, like Walter's death, it was quick.This is my favorite of the 'Anne' books aside from Anne of Green Gables. Such a beloved series.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      A wonderful coming of age story, though not my favorite of the "Anne" books. Watching Rilla (Anne's youngest child) grow up during World War I is moving and sometimes heartbreaking.
    • 5/5
      This book, the final in the "original" Anne of Green Gables series, was such a wonderful volume to end the series on! As mentioned by many - and as can be assumed from the title of the book - this volume is about Anne's youngest daughter, Rilla. It is her coming-of-age tale which happens amidst the shattering events of World War One.We live through "watching" all those we care about in Glen St. Mary as they lose so many of their young men to war (and in some cases to death or dismemberment). While the impact of global events are felt by everyone, Rilla and the rest of the Blythe household persevere and deal with their losses, tragedies, and victories.It's a very different book from the rest of the series as it deals with the harsh realities of life and the resilience of the human spirit, but it is not a completely "dark" book. Even during war, there are still joys to be had. Rilla of Ingleside was definitely a joy to read and probably the only other book in the series -besides the first- that I kept looking forward to continue reading.
    • 4/5
      Very charming books! But what happened to Dora? And Marilla and Rachel? They weren't mentioned in the later books, other than a brief mention that Marilla had died.
    • 5/5
      Nice stories with interesting characters, these later novels do not compare with the first three, but are still very readable.
    • 4/5
      In Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery we meet Anne Shirley Blyth’s youngest daughter, Marilla. Rilla is 15 years old and ready to enter into the adult world. She is hoping that soon her life will be filled with parties and fun activities. At her very first dance, she meets a young man who definitely takes her eye. Unfortunately it is 1914 and England and Germany have just declared war. The family eventually sees each of the three boys; Jem, Walter and Shirley, go off to war with Walter never to return home. Rilla also has to say goodbye to her beau, Ken, and makes a promise to wait for him.In my re-read of the Anne of Green Gables series, I really enjoyed the first three “Anne” books. The rest have seen very dated and moralistic but Rilla of Ingleside is an exception. The story is set during World War I and this gives the story a strength and purpose. It’s sentimentality seems exactly right as the family and their friends are seeing their loved ones march off to war. This is also a picture of Canada during the war and what it was like to be so far away from the action yet so involved in all it’s details.The story of Jem’s dog, Monday, waiting patiently at the train station for his master’s return brought me to tears. Rilla of Ingleside is an poignant read and mixes sadness with humor and a touch of romance. This was an excellent way to bring my reading about the Blythe family to an end.
    • 4/5
      The main protagonist is Anne's youngest child, Rilla, who is just beginning to "come out" as a young woman at the onset of Canada's involvement in the First World War. At first she is petulant and selfish, but through the events of the war she really grows into a young woman who will make her parents -- and her community -- proud. The content is necessarily darker, and there is loss to the beloved family. But there are also scenes that remind us that even amidst great tragedy there is mighty triumph, in big and small ways. A fitting end to the 'Anne of Green Gables saga.
    • 5/5
      This is the eighth and final book in the Anne of Green Gables series. I’ve slowly been working my way through the series and in the last couple books I really missed having Anne as one of the main characters. In this installment Anne’s youngest daughter, Rilla takes center stage and the book got back to the heart of the first few books. It embraced all of my favorite elements from the early books. It’s a bit more serious than the previous books. The characters are forced to deal with the realities of war and the loss of their quiet lives as their sons and sweethearts are sent off to fight in World War I. It deals with big issues, but offers perspective and hope along with the drama. The book was published shortly after WWI ended, so the trauma everyone had experienced must have been very fresh in Montgomery’s mind as she wrote this. The characters see firsthand how painful war is as they watch the men in the community leave to fight in battles on another continent. Some of the men feel the need to leave immediately and join the fight; others struggle with a desire to serve their country while wanting peace. The women are left to take care of the homes alone. They all believe the war will be over soon and begin to loose hope as months stretch into years. We see the hurried wedding of a war bride and the fate of an orphaned baby whose father is at the front and whose mother dies in childbirth. Rilla takes care of the war baby and she has to go from being an innocent teenager to a woman over the course of the war. We also see Rilla and her mother, our beloved Anne, stretched to the point of breaking as they fight their own fear and grief. SPOILERS When Walter died my heart broke. Rilla’s brother was the person she was closest to in the whole world. My own brother is one of my best friends and the thought of losing him in a war is terrifying. Walter’s last letter to Rilla will stay with me for years to come. His words about the power of sacrifice and being at peace with death are more beautiful than I can explain. SPOILERS OVER BOTTOM LINE: I love this series so much and this book is now among my favorites. It was a fitting ending to the saga and I look forward to re-reading the whole series in the future. “It is a strange thing to read a letter after the writer is dead, a bittersweet thing in which pain and comfort are strangely mingled.”“Ah yes, you’re young enough not to be scared of perfect things.” 
    • 5/5
      This was an entirely different book to the very first of the series. And it was quite painful to read, because it is so very much a book about the war, written close to the war and with understanding of it born of experiencing it. I almost don't count it as an Anne of Green Gables book, because it's not like the others at all -- but just as a book on its own, about people I feel I know from all the books before it, it's rather beautiful.
    • 4/5
      Different time, different tone
      Very enjoyable read
    • 5/5
      [Re-read 2013]

      I never really got excited about Rilla as a younger reader, but as an adult this is one of my favorites! It's so fascinating to see WWI through the eyes of Rilla and her family, at home in PEI, while the war rages on and one by one the young men go off to fight. Looking back from our current era, it is so odd and unnerving to read the propaganda, and yet Montgomery makes me understand where these characters are coming from. It is not an entirely comfortable book, for these reasons, but a lovely, heart-wrenching, eye-opening story.

      I do especially appreciate Walter's perspective. And Rilla's growth and transformation are wonderfully depicted.
    • 4/5
      A wonderful coming of age story, though not my favorite of the "Anne" books. Watching Rilla (Anne's youngest child) grow up during World War I is moving and sometimes heartbreaking.
    • 2/5
      WWI hits. The young men of the town go off to war, some never to return, none to return unchanged. The book has a lot of saccharine moments (Rilla’s Soul has been Honed by Tragedy and Work and is now that of a Woman, yeehaw), but the war keeps the book as a whole from being too cloying.
    • 5/5
      Rilla of Ingleside is very much about WWI. Although it takes place entirely on Prince Edward Island, the war is more than just a backdrop to the story. So there is significant loss and sadness, but it is still ultimately a positive book. Rilla (Anne's youngest child) shows huge character development, and there is plenty of humour and love. Next to Anne of Green Gables, it is my favourite book by L. M. Montgomery.
    • 4/5
      The youngest of Anne's children, Rilla, is almost 15, and ready for the gaiety of more grown-up activities such as parties, and dances, and having a beau. But suddenly conflict overseas in Europe flares into war, dragging all the young men into military service; Rilla finds herself growing up quickly as her brothers and friends become soldiers for England and Canada's cause in World War I.The final book in the "Anne of Green Gables" series is a little darker than the preceding books, but that is to be understood, due to the setting. It had been years since I'd read the previous books in this series, so relationships for some of the characters remained a dim memory, but I still enjoyed this story of irrepressible "Anne-with-an-E".
    • 5/5
      Rilla Blythe is a slightly vain and selfish fifteen year old, positive that the next few years will be the most thrilling of her life. But it's 1914 and the world as Rilla knows it is about to change entirely. As the young men in her small world join the Canadian forces, Rilla is forced to mature quickly as she takes on caring for a war baby and participates in the efforts at home to support "the boys over there."I went into this one knowing it was the WWI novel of the Anne books and expecting it to tug at the heartstrings even more intensely than previous novels in the series. I wasn't wrong. I spent big chunks of the novel willing back tears, although there were also sections where I was smothering laughter. The book isn't short on Canadian (and British Empire) patriotism, which might create mixed feelings for a modern reader. There is also an additional level of heartbreak reading passages on the lessons learned from the war with the modern knowledge of what came afterward. Those considerations aside, the prose is as beautiful as always and the novel is a bittersweet conclusion to Anne's story.
    • 5/5
      Rilla is one of the best of the Anne series, second (in most peoples' eyes) only to the one that started it all. Rilla's journey is well-paced and poignant, showing a well-drawn picture of what life was like during the first world war for many people. Rilla of Ingleside never fails ot make me cry, and I root for Rilla just as much as I rooted for Anne when she was tackling geometry and pining for puffed sleeves. It feels like this is the story in which Montgomery came back to the same feeling that was found in Anne of Green Gables, despite the years that spanned in between the first and what would later become the last in the series.
    • 3/5
      Anne's youngest daughter, Marilla (called Rilla) is all grown up at fifteen and dreaming of boys and dances when WWI rears its ugly head. Her oldest brother Jem enlists, to Anne and Gilbert's horror, as does Kenneth, the boy Rilla has a crush on. Rilla ends up adopting a baby who's mother dies and who's father is off at war, calling him Jims. Rilla grows closer to her brother Walter, who is disgusted by the destruction of war and hates the idea of going but hates being called a coward at college even more, so he ends up enlisting and is killed in action. This book is terribly bittersweet. All I have to do is think about poor Dog Monday and I burst into tears.
    • 4/5
      This book stands out a lot from the other books in this series which are a lot more carefree even when the characters are having problems. This one had way too much World War I for my taste. There was too much play by play about different battles and events. Rilla was a good character, and she definitely grows, but I had way too much having to hear about this or that war thing.
    • 5/5
      Anne is all grown up, and Montgomery brings us details on the life of her youngest daughter, Rilla (named after Marilla Cuthbert, the woman who adopted Anne years ago at Green Gables). Rilla, like her mother, has a vivid imagination, but is very much more modern with a sharper sense of humour than Anne. While Montgomery allowed Anne to grow up with many of her romantic ideals in tact, Rilla begins to show readers some of Montgomery's less idealistic, darker views on life as Anne's family struggles through the uncertainty, change and personal loss visited on them by World War II.
    • 4/5
      Montgomery's writing takes a serious tone in this last book of the "Anne of Green Gables" series as she chronicles the Blythe family's experiences just before and during World War I, mostly as seen through the eyes of youngest daughter Rilla. Montgomery must have either kept a diary of her own experiences of the war or done some research, as she faithfully recounts all the major battles and political engagements of the war. In this respect, the novel is historically valuable in depicting the effects of a war that is not often thought about any more, at least not to the same extent as World War II, and in illustrating the particular relationship between Canada and England, which stands in stark contrast to the American perspective on the events. As literature, the book is neither Montgomery's best or worst; there are some very well-written moments, particularly in the height of tragedy. However, the author has a tendency to over-expound, having multiple characters state the same opinions over and over throughout the story rather than finding subtle ways to reveal their thoughts and emotions through their responses to events around them. She also vacillates between an omniscient narrator and chapters written as entries in Rilla's diary, but always focusses on the perspective at home, which gets a bit repetitive. The story is worth reading to gain a more personal understanding of this time and place in history, but it does not quite match the subtle artistry of books like "Gone with the Wind."
    • 5/5
      For some people it may be difficult to read all 8 of the books, but it is worth the journey to get to this tale. Anne of Green Gables is still my favorite because I read it first, but Rilla of Ingleside never fails to make me cry. It has its own distinct feel to it and I in no way felt that the author was attempting to create a "little Anne." In fact, it is darker and more adult than the first one. I highly recommend this book!
    • 5/5
      Rilla of Ingleside is the final book in L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series. The story is of Rilla, Anne and Gilbert Blythe's youngest daughter. It has been nearly ten years since the events of Rainbow Valley took place, and Rilla is fourteen. Europe has joined in World War I and many boys from Canada are going to war, including Rilla's brothers and the Meredith boys. With her sisters and friends away at college, Rilla is left at home with her parents. Over the next few years she grows from a fun-loving child into a more mature young woman. Rilla of Ingleside is not much of an Anne book in the classical sense - there is not much Anne in the story, as was the case with the last few books in the series. However, taken alone Rilla of Ingleside is a very interesting and well-written novel. L.M. Montgomery's account of World War I from the homefront and out of the eyes of Rilla Blythe is breathtaking. The tragedy of war is illustrated second-hand, through the effect it has on the women waiting for their sons and husbands at home.Rilla of Ingleside is a realistic and emotional journey through the minds and hearts of the people left behind in war - friends and family waiting, with lives put on hold. Though it is heartbreaking at times (as stories set in times of war tend to be,) it is expressive and penetrative and gives the reader an authentic look at the Canadanian homefront during World War I. Rilla of Ingleside is a beautifully written and powerful novel.
    • 5/5
      This book deals with Anne's youngest daughter and her coming of age. The time is World War I and this book sees Anne's son Walter off to the front and the terrible consequences of war. But it's also a tale of love and of friendship and the loss of childhood. It comes full circle and leaves Anne's youngest daughter where we left Anne back in Avonlea about to embark on her own life. Spoilers: I loved this book and it really stuck with me. I still remember the day I finished it and how much I cried for Walter. I think I probably loved him in a very childish way. He was so sensitive and a poet and even Anne felt he was probably too special for this world. *sigh* I still cry.