This is one of my two favorite of the Anne of Green Gables books (the other being Anne of Windy Poplars), so I wanted to treat myself to as special a version as I could. And I’d listened to a reading done by multiple readers before on Youtube that I enjoyed so I hoped the experience might be repeated. I was not disappointed.
Here we have Anne and Gilbert in their first two years of married life with all the ups and downs that go with it and a new cast of characters that will come to make up the remaining adult years of the Anne books: Miss Cornelia, Leslie, Susan, and the unforgettable Captain Jim. I think some of the funniest and best stories are in this book, though Montgomery was always creative throughout the Anne series. Captain Jim and Miss Cornelia alone have plenty to say between them. Of course, there’s tragedy in Leslie Moore’s story and even Anne and Gilbert will not be immune but there is also much happiness in their first home.
The voicing is what hooked me: I love Anne and Gilbert’s readers. They were perfect to me for their parts. Nearly everyone else was too, such as Captain Jim, Marilla, Leslie, Susan, Owen Ford (in the later half of the book), etc. I wasn’t always too crazy about the narrator because she seemed a bit monotonous but I guess the main cast made up for it. And Miss Cornelia’s reader could’ve been a bit more lively, considering she as a character is not at all complacent. But overall, it was a lovely reading.
I can’t recommend this version enough. If you love the Anne of Green Gables series and are looking to listen to Book 5 in the series, get this one!