Rainbow Valley

1919, 1987 Bantam edition
L. M. Montgomery
Rainbow Valley
Bought used for $1.98
Worn paperback
C+

Why is this my least favorite "Anne" book so far?  To begin with, Anne is a minor character.  The focus is on the Meredith family, four children and their widowed minister father.  The Meredith kids befriend Anne's six, but other than Walter, most of the little Blythes aren't in the book much. 

The child we get the most of is Mary Vance, who after about seventy-five pages I couldn't think of as anything other than "[expletive deleted] Mary Vance."  It's all very well to have characters who are annoying to the other characters.  Austen was a mistress of this, so it's awesome to read of, for instance, Miss Bates nattering on, even if you probably wouldn't want to hang out with her in real life.  Montgomery herself manages this sometimes, as with the Pye sisters.  But here Montgomery offers a character that even the friends are annoyed by, although they also love her for reasons they can't understand.  (Hint, authorial intent.)

The third reason I'm not crazy about this book is that Montgomery has some very heavy-handed "foreshadowing" about the Great War, as in only two people realizing what a danger the Kaiser is, and in Walter's speeches about the Piper, who will call him and the other boys away, while the girls wait and cry at home.

I will admit I do like the plot of the two West sisters who've made a promise to never marry and abandon the other, but now both find chances to marry men they love.  Rosemary West has a possible future with Rev. Meredith, and so of course she has to prove she'll be a good stepmother.  There are moments when Montgomery teases the reader that one or more of the Merediths is going over to see Mrs. Blythe, but, nope, Anne isn't home, so they go talk to Rosemary.  If this weren't supposed to be an "Anne of Green Gables" book but part of an unrelated series, this wouldn't bother me so much.

It was meant to be the fifth entry, but ended up as #7.  The next "Anne" book, which does center on Anne's youngest daughter, was meant to be last, but it's now #8.  And it will fulfill the foreshadowing of this one.