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    Marilla of Green Gables: A Novel
    Marilla of Green Gables: A Novel
    Marilla of Green Gables: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    Marilla of Green Gables: A Novel

    Written by Sarah McCoy

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables . . . before Anne: A marvelously entertaining and moving historical novel, set in rural Prince Edward Island in the nineteenth century, that imagines the young life of spinster Marilla Cuthbert, and the choices that will open her life to the possibility of heartbreak—and unimaginable greatness.

    Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down. Her beloved mother dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh.

    In Avonlea—a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island—life holds few options for farm girls. Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth ""Izzy"" Johnson, her mother’s sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy’s talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world.

    Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness—Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. She soon finds herself caught up in the dangerous work of politics, and abolition—jeopardizing all she cherishes, including her bond with her dearest John Blythe. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateOct 23, 2018
    ISBN9780062866943
    Author

    Sarah McCoy

    Sarah McCoy is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of the novels The Mapmaker’s Children; The Baker’s Daughter, a 2012 Goodreads Choice Award nominee; and The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico. She has taught English and writing at Old Dominion University and at the University of Texas at El Paso. She lives with her husband, an orthopedic sports surgeon, and their dog, Gilbert, in North Carolina.

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    Reviews for Marilla of Green Gables

    4.5/5

    266 ratings36 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was really warm. The same way you feel reading some of the Anne of… books from Avonlea forward. Doesn’t everyone want to live on Prince Edward Island after they spend time there?
    • 5/5
      I normally don't like it when other authors write stories about beloved characters, but I kept hearing good things about this book so I gave it a try. It was so much better than my expectations. Sarah McCoy has a beautiful writing style similar to L.M. Montgomery and this prose is lovely. She treated these characters, who are so close to my heart with such Loving care and created a beautiful backstory to their lives before Anne! I devoured the audiobook in just two days
    • 5/5
      A wonderful addition to the Anne story and so well done by the narrator.
    • 5/5
      The author did an amazing job of tying the anne books I cherished with the story of Marilla’s life. I believe Mrs. Montgomery would be proud.
    • 4/5
      I received this book for free from TLC Book Tours as part of a review tour. Growing up, I was a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables. I read the book and used to watch the animated TV show on PBS. I wanted to live in Avonlea with Anne. So naturally I was excited to read this book. I was not disappointed. The book felt in the spirit very much like Anne of Green Gables. I can tell that the author did her research (in her author’s note she goes over in detail how much research she did). It had the same quaint feel as the original. Even the stylistic choices mimicked the original. The book is divided into three parts: Marilla of Green Gables, Marilla of Avonlea, and Marilla’s House of Dreams. The chapter titles even paid tribute too. The author has a fantastic writing style. The whole book just flowed so nicely and transported you into Marilla’s world. I thought the inclusion of the Underground Railroad in Canada was a bold choice. I was happy the author incorporated it because it was an area of history that I did not know much about. I enjoyed learning more about Canada and its history. Overall, this was a worthy prequel to an iconic classic series. I think a reread of Anne of Green Gables is in my future.
    • 5/5
      Great backstory on Marilla and Matthew. The author’s style shows her to be a kindred spirit to L.M. Montgomery.
    • 4/5
      Looking with a critical eye, I don't know that I could say that every single beat of this story and it's characters adds up. Looking with my rose colored glasses, I absolutely loved the chance to return to Green Gables, and learn more about dear Marilla. A lovely, heartwarming read.
    • 4/5
      Ok, I give this high points for being extremely readable, and an interesting modern and progressive take on some of the politics and history that was taking place in Canada in a pre-Anne timeframe. I particularly enjoyed the racial politics. I quite enjoyed this book.

      That said, the only thing that ties it to Anne of Green Gables is that she’s writing in the setting and using the same characters — it’s like Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen mysteries — related and highly enjoyable, but not really authentic, although to be fair, I think Stephanie Barron is a little more believable. I’m not trying to be harsh, but frankly all of LM Montgomery’s heroines are extremely invested in the question of marriage, whatever role they choose in the matter — you can be absolutely assured that they will spend at least half the book making their feelings plain. That Marilla, at 15, with a serious beau would not have thought about the possibility of marriage until her friend Rachel brings it up is a modern writer’s complete rejection of some of the most persistent values of the time. I’m ok with that, in fact I found it refreshing, and I enjoyed the note in the back where McCoy claims the book as her own and distinguishes it from Montgomery’s work. If you are looking for a real return to Avonlea, I would caution you that this may not be exactly what you are looking for. However, if you’re a modern grown up lady who is slightly horrified upon re-reading your favorite tales of childhood and discovering the extreme gender roles and restrictions therein, you might have a really good time with this.
    • 5/5
      A prequel to the Anne of Green Gables series this book focuses on Marilla and Matthew and their early lives. It was like visiting an old friend. Prequels are dangerous things especially one about such a beloved character. This book rings true and was very enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      Sarah McCoy imagines Marilla’s life before Anne came along…including a romance with Gilbert Blythe’s father.
    • 4/5
      A nice expansion on the world of Avonlea and the making of Anne’s future family. It is gentle world with a close-knit family and community. It is a life that is tightly tied to the seasons and farm work. But the strains from the outside can be felt even here.
    • 3/5
      I reread the Anne series over 2020 & 2021 and I had intentionally been waiting to read this until after that reread so that that story would be fresher in my mind. I enjoyed this book for what it was--Ane fanfiction. If you compare it to the Anne books, of course it is lacking. But if you enjoy it as a historical fiction book about PEI in the 1850s and early 1860s, it is very interesting. The centerpiece of this book is Marilla's journey to maturity with a focus on her relationship with John Blythe. If I'm being honest, I thought the way their relationship was handled was very strange--their "breakup" was extremely abrupt and it didn't make sense with the way the story progressed. I also found the way time was handled in this book to be odd as well--there would be huge jumps but it wouldn't be adequately addressed in the transitions. I also thought the catalyst for Marilla's decision to never marry was very strange as well. i did enjoy seeing Marilla's relationship with Rachel, though I felt more could have been shown. On the whole, I felt the story was more interested in the historical/political aspect of the time period than its characters. I would recommend it to historical fiction lovers, though not ones who were super invested in the Anne books.
    • 5/5
      A Very good book, looks back at Marilla when young and also Rachel Lynde, the reasons Marilla and Matthwe never married and makes for a very good pre-quel to the series by Montgomery
    • 5/5
      This is a loving and poignant tribute to the Anne series' greatest woman: Marilla. She is strong, vulnerable, and flawed, with a deep sense of justice and mercy. I highly recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      A really sweet story which makes me want to re-read Anne of Green Gables. I love historical fiction about an opinionated woman and Marilla does not disappoint. Fun reading.
    • 3/5
      In this prequel to the Anne books, we see Marilla as she grows up from a young teen living at Green Gables through the decisions that set her life on the path where we find her when Anne Shirley arrives in the Cuthberts' lives.I had some trepidation going into this novel as I have so much love for the Anne books (and the film adaptations from the 80s) that I wasn't sure if I could deal with anyone else mucking about with L.M. Montgomery's characters. Happily, I didn't hate the book. Does McCoy have the same way with words as Montgomery? Most definitely not but her writing and plot are perfectly adequate. My biggest issue with this book is that I can't see the version of Marilla that McCoy crafts in her book, becoming the character we meet through Anne's eyes. She seems too open-hearted at the end of this novel to be the woman we see sixteen years later who takes an orphan on a trial basis. However, I don't want to discourage anyone from reading the novel because it is compelling reading but I found it best to view the book as a slightly alternate reality version of these characters.
    • 4/5
      Going back to Green Gables was lovely. That is the only word that comes to mind. The descriptions of a place I’ve never been to shouldn’t seem as familiar as they do- but here we are.

      Marilla Cuthbert, as a grown-up was on the surface, stern with no time for nonsense. Underneath all that, Marilla was a great Mom to Anne, and I loved getting to know her as a teen girl. Marilla goes from child to young adult almost overnight when her Mother dies in childbirth. Both Marilla and Matthew are written true to character and never once did I feel any bumpiness or disjointedness that could have easily been present with two authors. After all, we have no idea what the entire backstory would have been if Lucy Maud Montgomery had written this prequel.

      I’ll admit to wondering what on Earth had happened between Marilla and John Blythe in the original Anne book and this story more than answered that question. Watching Matthew and Anne stumble their way through their respectful relationships made me wince and want to hug both of them and then sit down and talk it out over tea. They did the best they could (in this imagined version), and as we know, it did all turn out okay.

      I must mention the abolitionist/Underground Railway subplot. I read some other reviews that didn’t like it. I felt it was plausible. Marilla being a person of high moral standards would, of course, want to help if she could. The entire concept for this novel is one of fan fiction, and to be a complete story unto itself I felt like it needed this subplot, else it would be just a fling back to Avonlea and not being a novel unto itself. KWIM?


    • 4/5
      Marilla Cuthbert lives a quiet life on Prince Edward Island. She lives with her father, her pregnant mother, and her brother in a modest house on their farm. Although their farmhouse is off the beaten path, Marilla's father is slowly improving it. Marilla's mother, despite her previous challenging pregnancies, finds herself pregnant again at an advanced age for the time period. With this in mind, her mother's sister, Izzy, comes to visit and help out. Marilla is thirteen years old and things are changing for her on her idyllic island. She is starting to notice boys, making her first real girl friend, and the politics of the island are changing as well. Aunt Izzy really interests Marilla and why wouldn't she? She left Avonlea for the busy city and is a successful dressmaker who is, believe it or not, unmarried. Aunt Izzy, noticing Marilla can be a bit of a homebody, brings her along to a sewing circle at a nearby house and while there Marilla meets Rachel, who ends up being her best friend. Through Rachel, Marilla also becomes better acquainted with John Blythe. John and Marilla hit it off and just when things start to look promising for Marilla disaster strikes. Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy is the story I had always hoped for the much loved character of Marilla. Fans of Anne of Green Gables will absolutely love to be back in the charming world of Avonlea.In Anne of Green Gables, there are references to a past between John Blythe and Marilla. In Marilla of Green Gables, McCoy explores this possibility and I absolutely loved it. While a true Anne of Green Gables fan already knows Marilla's fate, I loved going on the journey with her and it helped me to understand why Marilla felt like she couldn't leave Green Gables or abandon her brother. Just because Marilla doesn't get the guy in the end doesn't make her any less fascinating of a person. I truly loved her world and didn't want to leave it.McCoy does a wonderful job bringing Avonlea to life. I felt like this re-imagining really worked. Sometimes when authors continue a beloved story, readers can be upset or disappointed by where the author takes the plot, but that was not the case in Marilla of Green Gables . It was a reuniting that I never thought possible and I was happy to see my old friends.McCoy also gives us a lot of detail regarding Canadian history and its politic affairs, especially in regards to slavery. I thought this was a nice touch by McCoy and definitely added to the story. I had little prior knowledge about Canada's stance on the issue of slavery prior to the American Civil War, so it was interesting to see how it all played out.If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables, you won't want to miss Marilla's story in Marilla of Green Gables . It's the perfect heartwarming novel to cuddle up with this holiday season.
    • 4/5
      I received this book for free from TLC Book Tours as part of a review tour. Growing up, I was a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables. I read the book and used to watch the animated TV show on PBS. I wanted to live in Avonlea with Anne. So naturally I was excited to read this book. I was not disappointed. The book felt in the spirit very much like Anne of Green Gables. I can tell that the author did her research (in her author’s note she goes over in detail how much research she did). It had the same quaint feel as the original. Even the stylistic choices mimicked the original. The book is divided into three parts: Marilla of Green Gables, Marilla of Avonlea, and Marilla’s House of Dreams. The chapter titles even paid tribute too. The author has a fantastic writing style. The whole book just flowed so nicely and transported you into Marilla’s world. I thought the inclusion of the Underground Railroad in Canada was a bold choice. I was happy the author incorporated it because it was an area of history that I did not know much about. I enjoyed learning more about Canada and its history. Overall, this was a worthy prequel to an iconic classic series. I think a reread of Anne of Green Gables is in my future.
    • 4/5
      Wow. That is excellent. Very much in Anne's style (as I recall it - it's been a while since I read any Anne), and a fascinating story in its own right. Marilla is deeply fleshed out, in ways that work with what we know of her in the Anne books (again, as far as I recall). Matthew, too, is enriched - and we learn about others, including Rachel Lynde and John Blythe. It was a great read. I want to read it again - _after_ I've reread (or, for some, read for the first time) the Anne books.
    • 3/5
      I looked forward to reading this book the minute I saw an announcement. I loved Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne books and their charm. McCoy's book simply didn't live up to the charm. It got off to a slow start, improved somewhat in the middle, and ended badly. I believe I enjoy the bits and pieces we learn of Marilla and Matthew's life pre-Anne from Montgomery's stories.
    • 5/5
      I loved this read, an insight into what made Marilla who she was when Anne Shirley came to Green Gables.I enjoyed meeting her Aunt Izzy and then all of the others we knew about, but now a lot of them are lifelong friends!What a wonderful gift after all these years to receive a back drop of Marilla! When see her life as a young girl, and it kept me thinking of Anne, and now maybe I’ll reread the Green Gable’s series.This book was a delightful treat, and even though I knew before I started how the end would turn out, I enjoyed the backdrop!I received this book through The LibraryThing, and was not required to give a positive review
    • 4/5
      I probably run about 50/50 when people try to enhance a book that I loved as a child. In this case, it's a whole series, and luckily, Marilla can stand on its' own and not ruin Anne in any way. McCoy did a great job peeking into Marilla's life as a young girl coming of age in a bit of a tumultuous time for Canada. You can easily see where her gruff but kind demeanor came from later in life, as she faced many hardships on the farm and in life. I loved seeing her childhood friend Rachel (and her mother--clear to see who she grows into) and how their friendship matured and endured through the years.. And John Blythe! As smart and handsome as his son will turn out to be, although it never turns out how you want, I liked that it was a big part of the story.
    • 4/5
      As a historical novel it is quite good, but I found it lacking as a prequel to the Anne of Green Gables books. I really had hoped for better. I won it from the publisher in a LibraryThing Giveaway in August of 2018. It arrived March 11,2019.
    • 5/5
      As did many other ER reviewers, I waited a long while for this book to arrive. I am very grateful to receive it. I will be traveling to PEI with my family this coming summer for a multi-generational holiday. This has been the perfect time to reconnect with Anne through Marilla. Other reviewers have commented on how well this story of Marilla's background fits so perfectly into the whole Anne saga. For the most part, I agree. There may be a few spots where I might have pictured a young Marilla a bit differently, but overall it is a wonderful book.I found it to be a delight to read, as well as the inspiration to return to the original Anne books. It also prompted me to revisit a few Anne films -- I think that Colleen Dewhurst (in the series with Megan Follows as Anne) will always be my favorite Marilla. It was a young Colleen Dewhurst who I pictured when reading this book.
    • 4/5
      I really wish I had reread Anne of Green Gables JUST before reading this. Fortunately, my husband loved the story, too, and recalled enough details to help me remember "what happened later." It took me a while to appreciate how well this version of Marilla really fit so beautifully into the actual Anne of Green Gables story. McCoy really did a great job of providing a multitude of historical descriptions of life in the early 1800s in Canada, right up to the Civil War in the United States. And having the description of Rachel from when Marilla first meets her adds a lot to the background of Mrs. Rachel Lynde, the next door neighbor with 10 children in Anne of Green Gables. The resulting Marilla presented by McCoy certainly seems to be a perfect fit for the real Marilla we meet in the Anne books.
    • 5/5
      this book was a long time coming after winning it last August. I just received it two days ago and devoured it. A very well written book about Marilla and her brother Matthew from the Anne of Green Gables series of books. This book is a novel set prior to the series and tells of life on a farm in a small Canadian farming community. Marilla is 13 when her mother dies while giving birth to a stillborn boy. Marilla promises her mother she will always take care of her family and her home.
    • 3/5
      This book started out quite strong. I wanted to read it because the Anne of Green Gables series has always been one of my favourite series since I read the books when I was a young girl. I always wondered about Marilla and Matthew and how they got to the point where Anne Shirley enters their lives. I thought that Ms McCoy did a good job of portraying the young Marilla. That part of the story seemed to fit with the Marilla we came to know in the Anne of Green Gables books. The writing is quite good, and the characters are realistic enough not to jar with any preconceived notions that long-time fans of Anne Shirley may have had. Unfortunately, the last third of the book didn't maintain that same positive feeling. About halfway through I started to think that maybe this book wasn't written by a Canadian author. The politics, revolts and mostly the slave issue and Underground Railroad issue started to take over the story. It just didn't ring quite true with me and with the way that I perceived Matthew and Marilla had lived their lives. Even some of the words didn't really sound the way Canadian people would have talked or thought back in the mid- to late 1800's. And Lucy Maude Montgomery's love of Prince Edward Island and its people just wasn't coming across the way it did in the Anne books.. I've given the book 3 stars for the excellent first third. For me, the remaining 2/3 is only about 1 1/2 stars I'm afraid. The book is almost worth reading though just for that first 1/3.
    • 4/5
      As a long time fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery's writing I knew I had to read this book as soon as I heard of it. Anyone who has read Anne of Green Gables should read this book which imagines what life was like at Green Gables before Anne came on the scene. Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert were old when Anne came to live with them but in this book they are young. They fall in love, they have sorrows, they think about the issues of the day (Rebellion in Upper and Lower Canada and slavery in the USA) and they discover who they are. Other familiar people from the Anne books appear. In particular Marilla's best friend who we knew as Rachel Lynde is Rachel White for the first half of the book. I don't remember a mention in the Anne books of Aunt Izzie, Marilla's mother's sister, but I may not remember everything. Or perhaps Sarah McCoy introduced her to be able to bring the concept of the Underground Railway into the book. Regardless it certainly brings an interesting plot element to the story; as does the fleshing out of the romance between Marilla and John Blythe which was alluded to in Anne of Green Gables. I very much enjoyed this foray into 19th century Prince Edward Island.
    • 4/5
      As a fan of the Anne of Green Gables series, I was really looking forward to reading this. It didn't disappoint. It was nice to see Marilla with her parents and aunt, but what was especially rewarding was seeing her interact with characters we already knew. I particularly enjoyed seeing her friendship with Rachel develop, and it amused me to realize how very much like her own mother Rachel would one day become. It was interesting to see the times and circumstances that shaped Marilla and how even as a teenager she was no-nonsense. The bittersweet ending was perfect and set up nicely for the Anne series.I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the Anne books.Thank you William Morrow and LibraryThing Early Reviewers for the copy of this book.