Anne of Green Gables

This is the first in a series of novels set in Canada, before the First World War. LM Montgomery grew up in Prince Edward Island... where she lived with her grandmother and did some teaching, and began her career as as writer. Anne is the story of an orphaned girl who is taken in by a middle aged brother and sister who have a farm. They wanted to adopt a boy to help on the farm but by mistake they get a girl Anne Shirley. Marilla does not want to take her on but Matthew, a shy middle aged farmer, takes a fancy to her. Anne is clever and imaginative and has had a hard life, having lost her parents as a baby, and she is now 11. As she grows older she gets into scrapes and learns form her mistakes. Then Matthew dies suddenly when she is around 16, and Marilla cannot afford to keep up the farm. Anne gives up her hope of going to college, to get a job as a teacher, locally and look after Marilla who rents out the farm for a few years.