L M Montgomery

Rainbow Valley L M Montgomery

Published in 1919, it is the seventh book in the series and follows the further life and adventures of Anne Shirley. At Ingleside, Anne is now happily married to her childhood friend the devoted Gilbert Blythe and have now been together blissfully for fifteen years. They have six children. The book opens with the return of Anne and Gilbert (who is now a brilliant doctor) from a sojourn in London, where they had gone to attend a big medical congress. They find a new minister ensconced in the old mansion. He is a widower with four wild, mischievous and unruly children who are always embroiled in one scrape or the other. However, they are at heart good and kind and they soon become friends with Anne's children. The entire group plays in a quiet maple grove which they have named Rainbow Valley because of its beauty and atmosphere. They form a Good Conduct Club headed by Jem Blythe, the eldest. A cheeky, runaway orphan girl called Mary Vance joins them in Rainbow Valley. However, the rules of the club prove too severe for some of the younger children.