If you finished Anne of Green Gables and immediately wondered what happens next, you’re in excellent company. L.M. Montgomery didn’t stop at one book; she built an entire coming-of-age arc that follows Anne Shirley from imaginative orphan to an accomplished adult. 

The Sequels 

After Anne of Green Gables, comes Anne of Avonlea. In this novel, Anne begins her career as a young teacher;  still brimming with imagination, but now responsible for shaping young minds. Throughout the novel, Anne gets pulled into community projects, local politics, friendships, and small-town drama, while learing life lessons that will carry her into adulthood.

Following Anne of Avonlea, is Anne of the Island. In this third Anne of Green Gables book, Anne attends Redmond College, makes new friends, grapples with her romantic ideals, and realizes what is truly important to her, all while never loosing the whimsy and optomism that makes her outlook on life so unique.

The fourth Anne of Green Gables book is Anne of Windy Poplars. This novel is written as a series of letters from Anne to her finace Gilbert Blythe, in which she chronicles her three years as a teacher at Summerside High School, in Summerside PEI. Anne must go up against the affluent Pringle clan and her cold coworker, Katherine Brooke. As always, Anne's spirit is indomitable. 

Anne's House of Dreams, the fifth book in the series, covers the beginning of Anne and Gilbert's marriage and the establishing of their new home in Glen St. Mary PEI. This novel is full of new beginnings, new friends and, unfortunately, new sorrow. Anne has matured into a poised young woman but as always, she brings a ferver to life, no matter what it throws at her, that is inspiring. 

In the sixth novel, Anne of Ingelside, Anne and Gilbert move to their forever home, their family expands and we begin to meet thier children. Much like Avonlea, Glen St. Mary is a community rife with local intrique, community projects, and politics and the characters of Anne's expanded world are as memorable as they are numerous. Anne becomes comfortable in her womanhood and grows as a mother.

Rainbow Valley, the seventh novel, introduces us to Anne and Gilbert's children properly, giving insight into their thoughts and dreams and personalities as they grow up in small town PEI. Like Anne, the children are precocious, imaginative and prone to getting themselves into 'scrapes.' The Blythe children are entirley endearing and experiencing a brief window into their childhood is just like revisiting Anne's early days at Green Gables.

The eighth Anne of Green Gables sequel is Rilla of Ingelside. This novel is from the perspective of Anne's daughter, Marilla "Rilla" Blythe, and is set during WWI. A darker novel than the ones before it, this novel tackles the feelings of those at home during "The Great War", the effects of war and themes of lose and love.

The last novel, published many years after L.M. Montgomery's death, is The Blythes Are Quoted. This book is made up of short stories about residents of Glen St. Mary,  interspersed with vignettes of Anne and her family discussing her poetry over a series of evenings. Before or after each of these vignettes, one or more of Anne's poems (and, later in the book, the poems of her son Walter) are presented in their entirety.

The magic of Anne of Green Gables is that there isn’t just one continuation, but a story that spans a full life, including a family, and a new generation. For the complete book series in lovely hardcover, visit our book section.