Anne of Ingleside: a children's novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in July 1939 and the tenth of eleven books that feature the ... novel 7 years after Anne's House of Dreams

Anne of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery.Anne of Ingleside is a childrens novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. It was first published in July 1939 by McClelland and Stewart (Toronto) and the Frederick A. Stokes Company (New York). It is the tenth of eleven books that feature the character of Anne Shirley and Montgomerys final published novel. (Two novels that occur later in the Anne chronology were actually published years earlier. As well the short story collection The Blythes Are Quoted written in 1941/42 but not published until 2009 concludes the Anne chronology. Seven years after Annes House of Dreams Anne visits Diana Wright and her daughter Anne Cordelia in Avonlea following the funeral of Gilberts father. When she returns home to the old Morgan house now named Ingleside she is greeted by her five children: James Matthew (Jem) the eldest now aged seven Walter Cuthbert who is about six and often thought to be a bit of a sissy because of his love for poetry twins Anne (Nan) and Diana (Di) who are five and look nothing alike Nan with brown hair and hazel eyes and Di with red hair and green eyes and finally Shirley two years old and Susan Bakers favourite as she took care of him as an infant while Anne was very sick following his birth.The book includes the dreadful seemingly eternal visit of Gilberts disagreeable oversensitive aunt Mary Maria Blythe whose visit was only supposed to last two weeks but stretches on for months and who only leaves when Anne unintentionally offends her by arranging a surprise birthday party much to the relief of the family.During the novel which spans a period of about four years Anne and Gilberts youngest child is born and is named Bertha Marilla Blythe. She is also called Roly-Poly or generally Rilla. The novel includes a series of adventures which spotlight one of Annes children at a time as they engage in the misunderstandings and mishaps of youth. In many of the adventures the honest Ingleside children are taken in by children who tell lies in order to seem more interesting: Nan is deceived by a lying schoolchild into thinking that she was actually switched at birth Walter is convinced by a school chum that his mother is dying and Di gets two stories in both of which she makes friends with schoolgirls who deceive her. In other stories oldest child Jem deals with the loss of a pet and youngest child Rilla somehow gets the idea that it is shameful to be seen carrying a cake and goes to great lengths to avoid doing so. The Blythes third son Shirley is present in the book but oddly gets no solo spotlight story of his own which is also the case in Rainbow Valley the next volume in the series.