(Oops!  I finished reading the Anne books back in October, but totally dropped the ball on writing up my reviews.  Bad blogger!  Expect one each week for the next month-ish, until we get through them all.  Sorry!)

Spoilers ahead!  If somehow you don’t know how Anne’s romantic life works out and are planning to read the books for yourself, come back later.

Anne of Windy Poplars, the fourth in L.M. Montgomery’s perennially popular Anne series, finds our heroine freshly engaged to her childhood nemesis-turned-friend-turned-romance, the dreamy Gilbert Blythe.  Say it with me, ladies… FINALLY!  Gilbert, of course, has loved Anne since they were children, but it took Anne awhile to come around.  Fortunately, she has now.  Still, Gilbert and Anne have a long way to go before they will end up at the altar.  Neither of them being overly funded, they agree to a long engagement while Gilbert puts himself through medical school.  To pass the time and earn some money during the engagement, Anne accepts a job as principal of Summerside High School.

Anne’s road will be a bit rocky for her first months on the job, because it quickly becomes clear that the “first family of Summerside,” the Pringles, didn’t exactly support her candidacy.  Apparently, Anne was up against a Pringle cousin for the job, and the Pringles can’t forgive her for winning the position.  They set out to make Anne’s life miserable and drive her from Summerside, almost from the very beginning: she is turned away from almost every boarding house in town, snubbed by half the residents of Summerside (Pringles, Pringle relations, and Pringle hangers-on), and the Pringle kids make it their mission to act out and undermine her authority at school.  Smart, perky, obnoxious Jen Pringle is the ringleader of that effort, and Anne laments the fact that they’re pitted against one another, because she believes she could really enjoy and appreciate Jen if the circumstances were different.

Ultimately, Anne’s perseverance and good humor win the day – as we knew, of course, that they would.  It doesn’t hurt that Anne stumbles across a damaging bit of information about one of the most famous past Pringles, of course, but her determination not to use the information – even though the entire clan has opposed her at every turn – is what really wins the family over.  (Being “the bigger person” works sometimes!)  The Pringle storyline is one of my favorite parts of the entire series, because it’s pretty much the only time (saving, maybe, a certain young woman in Anne’s House of Dreams, but more on her next week) that Anne isn’t immediately and universally loved by everyone with whom she comes into contact.  (Yes, Marilla isn’t instantly captivated by Anne the way Matthew was in the opening chapters of Anne of Green Gables, but it really only takes her a few pages to come around.)  The fact that Anne has to work to gain the Pringles’ respect and esteem is refreshing.  Of course we all know that Anne will win their hearts – she always does – and that she and Jen Pringle will end up lifelong friends.  But it takes awhile for her to get there, and she struggles along in the meantime, and I really like the fact that – at least once – Anne has to work for her popularity.

Of course, there are consolations.  Anne lives with two delightful widows, Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty, and their housekeeper, Rebecca Dew.  There’s a running joke throughout the book about who really runs the show in the widows’ home.  Rebecca Dew believes she does… but she might be mistaken about that.  (Read it and see, and be delighted.)  And there’s a sweet next-door neighbor, Little Elizabeth, whose life will be forever changed during Anne’s short residence in Summerside.

Anne of Windy Poplars is up there with my most beloved books of all time, and it’s one of my favorites in the series.  (Anne of the Island takes top billing, but I also love Windy Poplars, Anne’s House of Dreams, and Rilla of Ingleside.  And yes, I do realize that that’s half the series I’ve just named as favorites.  Sue me.)  Nothing much of consequence happens… Anne’s engagement to Gilbert happens before Windy Poplars opens, and the wedding isn’t until the next book.  But Anne’s newsy letters to Gilbert are lovely, the Summerside personalities charming, and the little glimpses into Anne’s life delightful.

I am submitting this review to The Classics Club as part of my challenge to read and blog 100 classic novels in five years.  Next week, my review of Anne’s House of Dreams!

You can buy Anne of Windy Poplars here, or support your local indie bookstore!  Psst – these are not affiliate links.