Before Green Gables
By Budge Wilson
Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2008 / New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008 / London: Puffin Books, 20
Before Green Gables is a prequel to Anne of Green Gables, written by Budge Wilson for the 100th year anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables. The book is “officially approved” by the heirs of L. M. Montgomery. It deals with the hardships of Anne’s early life, prior to her adoption at age 11, by Matthew and Marilla in Avonlea.
The idea of a prequel to Montgomery’s beloved classic was conceived by Penguin editor Helen Reeves.[1] An award winning Nova Scotia children’s writer, Budge Wilson, was asked to write the prequel. Wilson consented only after careful consideration. [2] She strove to be true to Anne’s character, without trying to imitate Montgomery’s writing style. [3] The book does, in fact, follow Montgomery’s overview of Anne’s life in Chapter 5 of Anne of Green Gables accurately, with the exception that Anne was born in the evening rather than at dawn, as described in Anne of the Island.[4] Wilson was particularly interested in showing how Anne became the optimistic and articulate young girl we meet in the beginning of Anne of Green Gables, despite her life of drudgery. Wilson was pleased with her final product, as is the L. M. Montgomery community at large, and although Wilson feared the response of angry fans, “it never came.” [5]
Before Green Gables has been translated into Japanese and Korean in 2008. A Japanese anime series will appear in 2009.
Summary
The book begins with a brief glimpse of Anne’s parents, Bertha and Walter Shirley, in their happy, though poverty-stricken marriage. Their goodness and devotion awes their nearest neighbours, whose lives are by no means as loving: Mrs. Thomas, the neighbour who takes Anne after her parents die, is unhappily wedded to a shiftless alcoholic. Though Mrs. Thomas takes the infant Anne out of fondness for Bertha, her husband is only too glad to cash in on the Shirley’s valuables. These are the cruel beginnings of Anne’s life.
Anne makes friends as she grows up, but her friendships are constantly thwarted by circumstance. Eliza, the Thomas’s eldest daughter, loves Anne dearly, but Anne loses Eliza when she marries. Jessie, a good friend of Bertha Shirley’s, wishes to adopt Anne, but Mrs. Thomas, who selfishly needs household help, refuses her. Anne befriends Mr. Thomas, sympathizing with his problems despite his drunken rages, only to see him die shortly afterwards. Her schoolteacher Miss Henderson and the local recluse “The Egg Man” are kind to her, and teach her her extensive vocabularly. She loses them, as well as the youngest Thomas baby who was her especial pet, when the Thomas family breaks up, and Anne is forced to move to the Hammonds’. Anne is heavily overburdened with work, both at the Thomases or Hammonds. The children she meets at the orphanage are also largely selfish. The grief and betrayal in her life is unbroken, until she is brought to Green Gables by mistake.
Review
While I applaud Budge Wilson for taking on the daunting task of writing a prequel to a popular novel, and- having read some of her original works of fiction- find her an excellent writer, I had a hard time matching her portrayal of Anne to the Anne I knew from L. M. Montgomery’s novels. Contrary to the reviews published in newspapers and journals[6], fan opinions seem to be very mixed about the prequel, from what I have read on internet message boards and mailing lists. The general criticism is that Anne appears out of character, that there are historical and logical inconsistencies in the book, and that the novel is tedious and lacking in humour compared to Montgomery’s writing.
The book’s best point, for me, was its writing style: clear, concise, and piercing, all of which is certainly very un-Montgomery-like. The reality Budge Wilson paints is very harsh, and most of the characters are selfish people hardened by poverty. The few benign individuals are so good that they seem like fairy-godparents. This makes the characters fairly two-dimensional: they are either soured by their situation in life, or unrealistically good but powerless. There are many plotlines for side characters, which add dramatic interest to the plot, but there’s little insight into how the characters themselves change and grow, so they remain the same good or bad individuals despite whatever good or evil befalls them. There is, in short, little divine justice for their actions.
Montgomery writing is replete with mathematical errors, but I have a harder time condoning Wilson’s logical inconsistencies. Why didn’t Mrs. Thomas give Anne to Jessie when her husband died? Why didn’t the Egg Man and Miss Henderson adopt her? Why does Anne hate her hair if Mrs. Archibald praised her for her beautiful red hair? If Anne was so loved by Eliza, why did she never talk about her to Marilla?
Perhaps Montgomery’s stories are fairy tales, but despite their sunny atmosphere they’re also more credible. Montgomery herself writes, in the guise of advice to a budding writer “Pine woods are just as real as pigsties, and a darn sight pleasanter to be in.” [7] I personally find the book too long and too consistently doleful. I had a hard time holding my interest in this book. I cannot imagine myself reading it if it weren’t for the Anne connection, and I wonder if I would have chosen to read it as young adult. Wilson’s Anne certainly isn’t my Anne, although other fans may fancy she is just as charming.
[1] Boswell, Randy. “Anne of Green Gables gets a new prequel” Canwest News Service. Saturday, October 28 2006
[2] Smulders, Marilyn. “Reading between the lines.” http://dalnews.dal.ca/2008/06/25/budge.html
[3] Boswell, Randy. “Anne of Green Gables gets a new prequel” Canwest News Service. Saturday, October 28 2006
[4] “The east room was the one you were born in. I remember your ma saying she loved to see the sunrise; and I mind hearing that you was born just as the sun was rising and its light on your face was the first thing your ma saw.” - Anne of the Island, ch. xx
[5] Smulders, Marilyn. “Reading between the lines.” http://dalnews.dal.ca/2008/06/25/budge.html
[6] Smulders, Marilyn. “Reading between the lines.” http://dalnews.dal.ca/2008/06/25/budge.html
[7] Montgomery, L. M. Emily’s Quest, ch.iii
