Rainbow Valley by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Published in 1919, it is the seventh book in the series and follows the further life and adventures of Anne Shirley. At Ingleside, Anne is now happily married to her childhood friend the devoted Gilbert Blythe and have now been together blissfully for fifteen years. They have six children. The book opens with the return of Anne and Gilbert (who is now a brilliant doctor) from a sojourn in London, where they had gone to attend a big medical congress. They find a new minister ensconced in the old mansion. He is a widower with four wild, mischievous and unruly children who are always embroiled in one scrape or the other. However, they are at heart good and kind and they soon become friends with Anne's children.

The entire group plays in a quiet maple grove which they have named Rainbow Valley because of its beauty and atmosphere. They form a Good Conduct Club headed by Jem Blythe, the eldest. A cheeky, runaway orphan girl called Mary Vance joins them in Rainbow Valley. However, the rules of the club prove too severe for some of the younger children.

The Green Gables series consists of eight books published between 1908-21. They trace Anne Shirley/Blythe's life from the time we encounter Anne Shirley, a young 11 year old orphan who is sent to live with an elderly couple on a farm on Prince Edward Island. By the eighth book, Anne is a middle aged woman of fifty-two and the stories concern her children and their lives. The family is also mentioned in some other books written by Montgomery.

Rainbow Valley is exciting, interesting and a fun read. It has some very engaging side plots about the minister, John Meredith and how he finds romance with the lovely Rosemary West. It also provides a dark foreshadowing of the terrible war years that were to dawn in the near future. The note on the dedication page of Rainbow Valley is a tribute to three of Montgomery's friends who died in WWI. The last book in the Anne series Rilla of Ingleside is set against the backdrop of the war.

For enthusiasts of the series, Rainbow Valley is indeed a delightful glimpse into the continuing saga of this bestselling series of books that have provided so much entertainment to generations of children.

All books in this series:1 Anne of Green Gables2 Anne of Avonlea3 Anne of the Island5 Anne’s House of Dreams7 Rainbow Valley8 Rilla of Ingleside