A review by silversomber
Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It was bitter sweet to read the last in the series, and to see Anne's youngest daughter only a little older than she herself was in the very first book. 

The real life timing of my reading had brought a much heavier weight to the war than I might have felt at a different time of reading. I was much more able to identify with the feeling of a war happening far beyond our borders, the hopelessness and lack of control. 

Rilla has some of the same charming day to day drama of previous books, but there is a much darker and much more serious tone. There is loss- but there is also hope. And hope has always proven strongest in the world of Montgomery. Publishing this on the heels of the war, you can see that she has poured much of herself into the novel. 

While it is maybe not the end I would have hoped for- for Anne, I have every faith that her and her family would make the most of the happiness they could find in the years to follow. Anne and Gilbert raised brave, strong, and outspoken children, with the best qualities of both their parents.

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