Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Ciranda Cultural
Description
Classic Literature. Juvenile Fiction. HTML: Get swept into another era in this classic from author L. M. Montgomery. Originally penned with younger audiences in mind, Chronicles of Avonlea is a comfort read that will captivate readers of all ages. This collection of heartwarming short stories capturing the vicissitudes of life in a sleepy seaside town will draw you in again and again..
User reviews
LibraryThing member rainbowdarling
As I understand it, this was compiled as a companion to the Anne books, without really being intended to be considered part of the series. The stories are interesting - they're nice in that L.M.M. kind of way, but they lack that special something that other stories taking place in Anne's "universe"
Show More
have. They don't seem to have the same heart. At the same time, I found it somewhat difficult to fit them into the sequence of the stories mentally, as their timeframes are very vague. It's a nice companion to the Anne novels for someone wanting more, and the stories are certainly not bad, but I was left wanting more from them. Show Less
LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
I have read this collection of short stories by L.M. Montgomery - the author of such beloved children's classics as Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon - more times than I can count. But despite that fact, and no matter that I know what's coming, I never seem to be prepared for the emotional
The Hurrying of Ludovic, in which Anne Shirley plays a role in bringing the courtship of Ludovic Speed and Theodora Dix to a happy conclusion...
Old Lady Lloyd, in which a lonely old woman, reduced to poverty but too proud to ask for help, finds someone to love...
Each In His Own Tongue, in which the loving but stern Mr. Leonard discovers that his grandson's gift for playing the violin is just as much a gift from God as his own call to the ministry...
Little Joscelyn, in which elderly Aunty Nan has her fondest wish granted, when "Little Joscelyn," all grown up and a world-famous singer, comes to visit her one last time...
The Winning of Lucinda, in which an fifteen-year-old quarrel between Lucinda and Romney Penhallow is most unexpectedly resolved...
Old Man Shaw's Girl, in which a father and daughter are joyfully reunited...
Aunt Olivia's Beau, in which Mary and Peggy Sterling witness the reunion of their old-maid aunt with Mr. Malcolm MacPherson, her suitor from years before...
The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's, in which a man-hating, cat-loving woman, and a woman-hating, dog-loving man are unexpectedly stuck with each other due to a smallpox quarantine...
Pa Sloane's Purchase, in which the elderly Pa Sloane returns from an auction with a most unusual "purchase"...
The Courting of Prissy Strong, in which a long-abandoned courtship is resumed between Stephen Clark and Prissy Strong, despite the vehement objections of Prissy's older sister...
The Miracle at Carmody, in which Judith Marsh decides that she does believe in God after all, when her sister Salome's lameness is cured...
And finally, The End of a Quarrel, in which Nancy Rogerson and Peter Wright get a second chance at love, and this time don't let bad grammar stand in their way...
Addendum: Not unexpectedly, my latest reread of Chronicles of Avonlea, for our August discussion, over in the L.M. Montgomery Book-Club to which I belong, has only confirmed my love for these stories. Their humor, both broad and subtle, was just as appealing as ever, and their sense of pathos just as moving. I was particularly struck, this time around, by the importance of religion in so many of Montgomery's stories, and by the truly respectful and intelligent way in which issues of the spirit are handled in her text. It's not that the ubiquity of religious belief - usually of an unbending Presbyterian sort - in the society Montgomery is depicting had escaped me before, but it occurred to me, as I was reading, that her work stands above so many other popular stories in which religion plays an important role because there is no hidden didactic aim in her writing (she is not writing to convince you of anything), there is no hateful, smug sense of superiority (the one true atheist, Judith and Salome Marsh's father, in Miracle at Carmody, is described as a loving and thoughtful man), and there is no sense of religious authority being above challenge, or incapable of error (even the saintly Rev. Leonard, in Each in His Own Tongue, discovers that he is wrong, and that the sinful old reprobate, Abel Blair, is right). I think that it is this quality, this way of treating religion seriously, as a meaningful part of people's emotional and intellectual lives, rather than just as a "practice," but without descending (usually) into any sort of treacly sentimentality about it, or displaying any unctuous piety, that spoke to me so strongly, as a girl, and still does. This is akin to the sort of religious upbringing I had. How lovely to discover that I am kindred spirits with L.M. Montgomery in yet another way!
Show More
impact that some of these "Chronicles of Avonlea" have upon me. I always laugh when reading The Hurrying of Ludovic and The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's, thrill in sympathy at Each in His Own Tongue, and weep with Old Lady Lloyd and Little Joscelyn. Familiarity does not seem to lessen the power of these tales, nor does my awareness of their overt sentimentality detract from their appeal, and I return to them from time to time, always with a feeling of coming home. The treasures found in The Chronicles of Avonlea include:The Hurrying of Ludovic, in which Anne Shirley plays a role in bringing the courtship of Ludovic Speed and Theodora Dix to a happy conclusion...
Old Lady Lloyd, in which a lonely old woman, reduced to poverty but too proud to ask for help, finds someone to love...
Each In His Own Tongue, in which the loving but stern Mr. Leonard discovers that his grandson's gift for playing the violin is just as much a gift from God as his own call to the ministry...
Little Joscelyn, in which elderly Aunty Nan has her fondest wish granted, when "Little Joscelyn," all grown up and a world-famous singer, comes to visit her one last time...
The Winning of Lucinda, in which an fifteen-year-old quarrel between Lucinda and Romney Penhallow is most unexpectedly resolved...
Old Man Shaw's Girl, in which a father and daughter are joyfully reunited...
Aunt Olivia's Beau, in which Mary and Peggy Sterling witness the reunion of their old-maid aunt with Mr. Malcolm MacPherson, her suitor from years before...
The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's, in which a man-hating, cat-loving woman, and a woman-hating, dog-loving man are unexpectedly stuck with each other due to a smallpox quarantine...
Pa Sloane's Purchase, in which the elderly Pa Sloane returns from an auction with a most unusual "purchase"...
The Courting of Prissy Strong, in which a long-abandoned courtship is resumed between Stephen Clark and Prissy Strong, despite the vehement objections of Prissy's older sister...
The Miracle at Carmody, in which Judith Marsh decides that she does believe in God after all, when her sister Salome's lameness is cured...
And finally, The End of a Quarrel, in which Nancy Rogerson and Peter Wright get a second chance at love, and this time don't let bad grammar stand in their way...
Addendum: Not unexpectedly, my latest reread of Chronicles of Avonlea, for our August discussion, over in the L.M. Montgomery Book-Club to which I belong, has only confirmed my love for these stories. Their humor, both broad and subtle, was just as appealing as ever, and their sense of pathos just as moving. I was particularly struck, this time around, by the importance of religion in so many of Montgomery's stories, and by the truly respectful and intelligent way in which issues of the spirit are handled in her text. It's not that the ubiquity of religious belief - usually of an unbending Presbyterian sort - in the society Montgomery is depicting had escaped me before, but it occurred to me, as I was reading, that her work stands above so many other popular stories in which religion plays an important role because there is no hidden didactic aim in her writing (she is not writing to convince you of anything), there is no hateful, smug sense of superiority (the one true atheist, Judith and Salome Marsh's father, in Miracle at Carmody, is described as a loving and thoughtful man), and there is no sense of religious authority being above challenge, or incapable of error (even the saintly Rev. Leonard, in Each in His Own Tongue, discovers that he is wrong, and that the sinful old reprobate, Abel Blair, is right). I think that it is this quality, this way of treating religion seriously, as a meaningful part of people's emotional and intellectual lives, rather than just as a "practice," but without descending (usually) into any sort of treacly sentimentality about it, or displaying any unctuous piety, that spoke to me so strongly, as a girl, and still does. This is akin to the sort of religious upbringing I had. How lovely to discover that I am kindred spirits with L.M. Montgomery in yet another way!
Show Less
LibraryThing member veracite
It's not easy to write about childhood favourites in other than glowing terms. I can see all the things I would criticise - even dislike - had I first read this book now. The overwhelming heteronormativity, the association of singlehood with a poorer, less worthwhile life, the demonstration that
On the other hand, I love these stories. They make me happy.
Show More
any woman who says she doesn't want to marry is lying both to herself and everyone else, that women are the houseworkers and that a man who cleans house is an oddbod, rare and remarkable, but laudable if he is a single dad. On the other hand, I love these stories. They make me happy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member veracite
It's not easy to write about childhood favourites in other than glowing terms. I can see all the things I would criticise - even dislike - had I first read this book now. The overwhelming heteronormativity, the association of singlehood with a poorer, less worthwhile life, the demonstration that
On the other hand, I love these stories. They make me happy.
Show More
any woman who says she doesn't want to marry is lying both to herself and everyone else, that women are the houseworkers and that a man who cleans house is an oddbod, rare and remarkable, but laudable if he is a single dad. On the other hand, I love these stories. They make me happy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member veracite
It's not easy to write about childhood favourites in other than glowing terms. I can see all the things I would criticise - even dislike - had I first read this book now. The overwhelming heteronormativity, the association of singlehood with a poorer, less worthwhile life, the demonstration that
On the other hand, I love these stories. They make me happy.
Show More
any woman who says she doesn't want to marry is lying both to herself and everyone else, that women are the houseworkers and that a man who cleans house is an oddbod, rare and remarkable, but laudable if he is a single dad. On the other hand, I love these stories. They make me happy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
One thing Ms. Montgomery had and that was a knack for short stories. Each one in this collection has a satisfying completeness to it. If I had to pick a theme running through each of the twelve stories I would say it is love in all its different varieties. Some stories pose pride against love and
Show More
others celebrate the power of love to change a person. These stories are only loosely tied to the Anne of Green Gables series in the form of short references to one of the characters in the series, though all are set in the towns around Avonlea. Some of the situations or types of characters in this collection of stories show up in other collections or even in the novels themselves, which is interesting in terms of how Ms. Montgomery practiced her craft. Show Less
LibraryThing member NadineC.Keels
I've read this book twice. The Avonlea folks are something else (and far too good at holding off their own fulfillment for petty reasons!) Makes you want to make the most of your own chances in life. Such an enjoyable read, even the second time around!
LibraryThing member wrightja2000
This is one of those books that I forget most of the stories the second I finish it but enjoy it enough to have reread it at least 3 or 4 times. I vaguely recall the stories each time but not the details. Even now, i just finished reading it again and I couldn't tell you much about the details of a
Show More
lot of the stories. Not sure what that says about me as a reader. Maybe I've just read too many LLM stories and books over the last 30 years, and they kind of blend together. But they are almost always enjoyable, like eating a bowl of ice cream. You don't have to recall a certain favorite bowl of ice cream you ate, but you just keep eating it because you know it's going to keep on tasting good. Show Less
LibraryThing member AngelaLam
My favorite of the Anne of Green Gables series.
LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
*review in progress while still reading book*
This book contains a number of short stories tangentially related to beloved character Anne Shirley, of Anne of Green Gables fame. In total, there are twelve stories, each dealing with the various going-ons of people in the small towns of Prince Edward
Somewhat recently I decided to re-read all of the Anne books in order, selecting audiobook versions this time around. It was the first time I had read any of these books since I was a child myself, and not all of them lived up to the memories. But I digress, mentioning this here only to say that I decided to continue on with this Chronicles of Avonlea book that is not quite an official part of the Anne of Green Gables series. I no longer recall if I read this particular title as a child or not, although apparently some of these stories became the basis of the television series Road to Avonlea, which I loved as a child (but have not revisited as an adult).
The stories are completely unconnected to one another and bounce around in locations and possibly time as well. It's a little unclear on the timeframe for some of these stories; the book itself was written between the second and third titles of the Anne of Green Gables series proper. Despite what its name implies, this book takes place in several towns on Prince Edward Island, not just the fictional Avonlea. Anne is a notable character in a few stories, but other times she is merely mentioned in the briefest of passing comments.
In "The Hurrying of Ludovic," Anne plays matchmaker and is a little obnoxious about it in my opinion, but all's well that ends well, I guess. "Old Lady Lloyd" was apparently so forgettable that I started writing this review before I finished reading the rest of the stories so they wouldn't fade away from memory, too. In "Each in His Own Tongue," a grandfather learns that he can't keep a passion for music away from his grandson just because of his own grief. In "Little Joscelyn," a frail, elderly woman reminisces about a young boarder who used to reside at the family farm and who is now a famous singer touring all over Canada. In "The Winning of Lucinda," a pair of quarreling ex-lovers are reunited after things go awry at a family wedding (because, yes, they are distant cousins, and that's one of the moments where the age of this book is the most glaring). In "Old Man Shaw's Girl," a father expectantly waits for his daughter to return home after a few years away and worries that she will no longer find their small-town home to her taste.
The back half of the book starts off with "Aunt Olivia's Beau,"
"Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's"
"Pa Sloane's Purchase"
"The Courting of Prissy Strong"
"The Miracle at Carmody"
"The End of a Quarrel"
Some of the stories are a little too saccharine for my taste but overall, they just give me the unsatisfied feeling that many works of short fiction do -- there's just not enough time to learn about these characters or grow feelings toward them that would make their stories remarkable. Although Anne's adventures over time could be noted as rather mundane, the love the reader has toward Anne as a character over the course of several novels help sustains the plotlines. Here, that's simply not the case because Anne is an ancillary character at best and the other characters are generally not ones we've met before so we don't have any history with them. It might have been more compelling to get richer stories for 'side' characters from the main series, but that's not what Montgomery chose to write.
If you are a hard-core completionist or really, truly fell in love with the world of Avonlea, this book is worth checking out. However, you can read the rest of the Anne of Green Gables series without missing anything by skipping this title.
The audiobook version I listened to was narrated by Grace Conlin, who also narrated some of the Anne of Green Gables audiobooks I listed to this round, so that's good for continuity's sake, although many of the characters here aren't in the other books and vice versa. Conlin was one of the better audiobook narrators I've encountered along my journey of re-reading this series, so that's a plus.
This book contains a number of short stories tangentially related to beloved character Anne Shirley, of Anne of Green Gables fame. In total, there are twelve stories, each dealing with the various going-ons of people in the small towns of Prince Edward
Show More
Island.Somewhat recently I decided to re-read all of the Anne books in order, selecting audiobook versions this time around. It was the first time I had read any of these books since I was a child myself, and not all of them lived up to the memories. But I digress, mentioning this here only to say that I decided to continue on with this Chronicles of Avonlea book that is not quite an official part of the Anne of Green Gables series. I no longer recall if I read this particular title as a child or not, although apparently some of these stories became the basis of the television series Road to Avonlea, which I loved as a child (but have not revisited as an adult).
The stories are completely unconnected to one another and bounce around in locations and possibly time as well. It's a little unclear on the timeframe for some of these stories; the book itself was written between the second and third titles of the Anne of Green Gables series proper. Despite what its name implies, this book takes place in several towns on Prince Edward Island, not just the fictional Avonlea. Anne is a notable character in a few stories, but other times she is merely mentioned in the briefest of passing comments.
In "The Hurrying of Ludovic," Anne plays matchmaker and is a little obnoxious about it in my opinion, but all's well that ends well, I guess. "Old Lady Lloyd" was apparently so forgettable that I started writing this review before I finished reading the rest of the stories so they wouldn't fade away from memory, too. In "Each in His Own Tongue," a grandfather learns that he can't keep a passion for music away from his grandson just because of his own grief. In "Little Joscelyn," a frail, elderly woman reminisces about a young boarder who used to reside at the family farm and who is now a famous singer touring all over Canada. In "The Winning of Lucinda," a pair of quarreling ex-lovers are reunited after things go awry at a family wedding (because, yes, they are distant cousins, and that's one of the moments where the age of this book is the most glaring). In "Old Man Shaw's Girl," a father expectantly waits for his daughter to return home after a few years away and worries that she will no longer find their small-town home to her taste.
The back half of the book starts off with "Aunt Olivia's Beau,"
"Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's"
"Pa Sloane's Purchase"
"The Courting of Prissy Strong"
"The Miracle at Carmody"
"The End of a Quarrel"
Some of the stories are a little too saccharine for my taste but overall, they just give me the unsatisfied feeling that many works of short fiction do -- there's just not enough time to learn about these characters or grow feelings toward them that would make their stories remarkable. Although Anne's adventures over time could be noted as rather mundane, the love the reader has toward Anne as a character over the course of several novels help sustains the plotlines. Here, that's simply not the case because Anne is an ancillary character at best and the other characters are generally not ones we've met before so we don't have any history with them. It might have been more compelling to get richer stories for 'side' characters from the main series, but that's not what Montgomery chose to write.
If you are a hard-core completionist or really, truly fell in love with the world of Avonlea, this book is worth checking out. However, you can read the rest of the Anne of Green Gables series without missing anything by skipping this title.
The audiobook version I listened to was narrated by Grace Conlin, who also narrated some of the Anne of Green Gables audiobooks I listed to this round, so that's good for continuity's sake, although many of the characters here aren't in the other books and vice versa. Conlin was one of the better audiobook narrators I've encountered along my journey of re-reading this series, so that's a plus.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1912
1998 (Nouvelle édition française, Presses de la Cité)
Physical description
224 p.
ISBN
9786555003802