Rainbow Valley

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A paperback edition of Rainbow Valley.

Rainbow Valley (1919) is the seventh book in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. In this book Anne Shirley is married with six children, but the book focuses more on her new neighbor, the new Presbyterian minister John Meredith, as well as the interactions between Anne's and John Meredith's children.

The book is dedicated: "To the memory of Goldwin Lapp, Robert Brookes and Morley Shier who made the supreme sacrifice that the happy valleys of their home land might be kept sacred from the ravage of the invader." This refers to World War I, which is the main theme of the next and final book in the series, Rilla of Ingleside.

That the book contains little about Anne herself or her family has caused disappointment among some Anne fans; however there are also people who enjoy the newly introduced characters.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Anne Shirley has now been married to Gilbert Blythe for 15 years, and the couple has seven children: Joy, Jem, Walter, Nan, Di, Shirley, and Rilla. After a trip in Europe, Anne discovers that the new minister John Meredith, a widower with four children named Jerry, Faith, Una and Carl, has arrived in the village. With no mother and a very dreamy father, the manse children are not properly brought up, so they have had many adventures leading to much gossip that has risked their father's job. However, these children are kind-hearted in nature and have become good friends with Anne's children, and they have even saved an orphan girl, Mary Vance, from starvation and found a home for her. Meanwhile, John Meredith is also having a second romance, but objections from the woman's sister has obstructed them. Finally the problem is resolved, and the book has a happy ending with a double marriage.