Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Meeting at the usual place, The Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire St, Surry Hills, at 7.00pm on Thursday 3 September 2026, we will be discussing Anne of Green Gables (1908). This was the first in a series of Anne stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Adapted many times for TV and movies, it is set in a rural part of Canada, Prince Edward Island. It is the story of a middle-aged brother and sister, who want to adopt a strapping young boy to help with the labouring on their small farm. Due to a confusion in communication and much to their disappointment, they get a skinny 12 year-old girl. Their disappointment at getting a girl is replaced with an affection for the young orphan and they allow her to stay at their home. Often seen at first glance as little more than a 'girl's novel,' it is a very moving story with very grown-up themes: life and death, duty and sacrifice, loyalty and loss, and the celebration of beauty in the commonplace. The format of the meeting is that we talk about the novel in a focused way for about 50 mins. People speak one at a time and everyone gets a say. The meeting then formally ends, with almost everyone staying back and talking more in small informal groups about the novel or anything else.