Anne of the Island

Anne of the Island is a novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, first published in 1915. It is the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series.

Anne Shirley leaves Green Gables to study at Redmond College in Kingsport. Away from Avonlea, she builds a new home with friends including Priscilla Grant, Stella Maynard, and the lively Philippa Gordon, while pursuing her academic ambitions and beginning to see her writing in print.

College brings greater freedom, new friendships, and unfamiliar choices. It also brings proposals, disappointment, and loss, forcing Anne to compare the romantic ideals of her imagination with the quieter truths of adult life.

Gilbert Blythe remains close, but Anne is reluctant to recognize how their friendship has changed. When the charming Roy Gardner seems to match the hero she has always pictured, she must decide whether love is defined by a perfect image or by years of trust, understanding, and shared history.

More reflective than the earlier books, Anne of the Island follows Anne through the transition from adolescence to adulthood without losing Montgomery's humor or affection for everyday beauty. The novel explores education, independence, chosen family, ambition, and the difficult work of understanding one's own heart.

This is book 3 in the Anne of Green Gables series.