{"id":1588572,"date":"2018-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/?p=1588572"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:02:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T18:02:43","slug":"divine-reads-marilla-of-green-gables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/divine-reads-marilla-of-green-gables\/","title":{"rendered":"DIVINE Reads: Marilla of Green Gables"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">I remember, vividly, the first time that I read Anne of Green Gables.\u00a0 I was ten years old and was immediately enchanted by the character of Anne Shirley. I also had a soft spot for sweet, shy Matthew Cuthbert.\u00a0 It took me quite awhile to warm up to Marilla Cuthbert, Anne\u2019s adopted mother, but eventually, she proved to be a likeable, if no-nonsense, character.\u00a0 While the Anne series, written by L.M. Montgomery, had many sequels, Marilla was always a supporting character.\u00a0 Best-selling author, Sarah McCoy, puts the character front and centre in her book, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chapters.indigo.ca\/en-ca\/books\/marilla-of-green-gables-a\/9780062697721-item.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marilla of Green Gables<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1622471\" src=\"https:\/\/divine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Marilla-of-Green-Gables-1.jpg\" alt=\"Marilla of Green Gables: Cover Art\" width=\"506\" height=\"760\" srcset=\"https:\/\/divine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Marilla-of-Green-Gables-1.jpg 506w, https:\/\/divine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Marilla-of-Green-Gables-1-320x481.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We meet a young Marilla Cuthbert during her formative years when she suffered through the death of her mother and was left responsible for looking after her father, Hugh, and brother, Matthew.\u00a0 The book stays true to the character of Marilla who is never frivolous or imaginative like Anne Shirley.\u00a0 Rather, she is a principled, conservative, but kind heroine that is modern in thought, and is very much a product of her Presbyterian upbringing.<\/p>\n<p>You get a true sense of who Marilla was as a young woman and why she initially responded to Anne the way she did in the other Green Gables series.\u00a0 It also introduces other favourites from the Anne Shirley series including Rachel Lynde, Marilla\u2019s closest friend, and of course John Blythe, the character known as \u201cher beau,\u201d is also introduced.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/divine-reads-the-gown\/\">The book<\/a> will not disappoint fans of the original series.\u00a0 It is a great companion book, but I would suggest for young adults or adults of any age.\u00a0 The book is much more mature than its predecessor.\u00a0 It takes a very historic slant with issues like the anti-monarchist versus loyalist movement and the abolitionist movement as important plot points.\u00a0 This is what allows the book to have a much broader audience than the beloved Anne series.<\/p>\n<p>McCoy has a wonderful, descriptive way of writing that transports you back to Prince Edward Island in the 1800s.\u00a0 You feel like you are walking through the fields of Marilla\u2019s beloved Avonlea.\u00a0 Marilla\u2019s quiet heroism and Matthew\u2019s inherent sweet shyness make this book a journey worth taking for anyone who misses Avonlea.\u00a0 Learning more about the history of the time also makes this book a very rewarding read.\u00a0 L.M. Montgomery would be very proud to have this as a prequel!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-excerpt\">I remember, vividly, the first time that I read Anne of Green Gables.\u00a0 I was ten years old and was immediately enchanted by the character of Anne Shirley. I also&hellip;<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/divine-reads-marilla-of-green-gables\/\" class=\"button button-primary button-effect\"><span>View Post<\/span><span><i class=\"cs-icon cs-icon-arrow-right\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1622217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3792,185,183,3793,182,4695,186,2743],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1588572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reviews","8":"tag-anne-of-green-gables","9":"tag-book-clubs","10":"tag-book-reviews","11":"tag-book-worms","12":"tag-books","13":"tag-marilla-of-green-gables","14":"tag-novels","15":"tag-reading"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1588572"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1622473,"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1588572\/revisions\/1622473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1622217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1588572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1588572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1588572"},{"taxonomy":"powerkit_post_featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/powerkit_post_featured?post=1588572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}