Anne of the Island

1915, 1992 Bantam edition
L. M. Montgomery
Anne of the Island
Bought new for $2.95
Good condition paperback
B

If you can put aside that for a book about Anne's four years at Redmond College there isn't really that much about college, like, oh, the courses she's taking, this is equal to the first two "Anne" books.  It's mostly about romances, Anne's own (including, if I counted correctly, five proposals), Diana's (she marries good old Fred and has Fred, Jr. by the end of the book), her friends', and some random middle-aged strangers that show up only so that Anne can matchmake them. 

There's thankfully less of Davy, although we are treated to the misadventures that ensue when he skips Sunday School, Dora the Dreary in tow.  (Anne is visiting nameless friends at Carmody, another town on the island.)  I totally forgot that Miss Lavendar's posse returns, twice, with Charlotta the Fourth now wearing a pompadour.  Miss Lavendar's stepson Paul has developed the amazing ability to age twice as fast as everyone else, so he's thirteen when he should be twelve, and sixteen when he should be fourteen.

The best new character is frivolous Philippa, who has a swarm of beaux but falls for an ugly minister.  I still can't remember much about Priscilla, other than her aunt is a writer.  And who was the other roommate again?  Not Aunt Jimsie, but the classmate.  Not too memorable.

Speaking of writers, Anne starts to pursue her professional writing career, helped along by Diana.  She's hoping to return to teaching-- now with a B.A.!-- but she wants to write, too.  When Gilbert almost dies, she realizes she loves him (although I read her as lesbian for the most part), and he proposes to her again.  She accepts, but they'll have to wait three years, as he gets his medical training. 

As for readers, well, they only had to wait two years for Anne's House of Dreams, although that would end up being Book 5.  More about that later....