Emily of New Moon

I adore Anne of Green Gables - the writing, the characters, the atmosphere of beautiful Prince Edward Island and all its Canadiana goodness. With popular TV shows, audiobooks and more devoted to the famous redhead, Anne is a Canadian classic. After someone told me that they had enjoyed the Emily series by L.M Montgomery even more than Anne, I grabbed a digital copy of the trilogy.

Anne was magical and memorable, so I went into this story expecting to be delighted and find another kindred spirit in Emily. Written over a decade after the first Anne of Green Gables book was published, Emily had many similarities to Anne (too many to be honest) and yet she and her story didn't have the same heart or humour, and she came off as a paler, brattier version of the famous redhead. 

The story itself is drawn out with not much happening and it didn't help that a lot of page time is spent with Emily writing letters to her father. But her constant misspellings were frustrating, and these letters only added to the longwinded feel. I also felt the secondary characters lacked depth and the whole 'older man telling a tween he'll pursue her hand in marriage once she's of age' felt icky.

Bland with a morose vibe, this book was not the magical reading experience I had with Anne. I know I shouldn't compare the two series, but it felt like Emily's story was written by a completely different person. I even switched to the audiobook hoping a change in format would help but the quality of storytelling, the memorable characters and the humour just aren't there in this book. As a proud Canadian, I'm in the depths of eternal despair that I didn't enjoy it but even though I bought the other two books in the trilogy for my kind, I don't think I'll be reading them.

My Rating: 2 stars

Author: L.M. Montgomery

Genre: Middle Grade, Canadian, Classic

Series: Emily 1

Type and Source: ebook and eaudiobook (personal copies)

Audio Narrator: Susan O'Malley

Run Time: 12 hours

Publisher: Grapevine/Blackstone Audio

First Published: Dec 13, 1923

Read: Oct 12-23, 2025

Book Description from GoodReads: "Emily of New Moon" by L. M. Montgomery introduces Emily Byrd Starr, a spirited orphan who is sent to live with her strict relatives at New Moon farm. Despite the challenges of her new life, Emily finds solace in her love of writing and her vivid imagination. She forms close bonds with her friends and faces various struggles, including her evolving relationship with her aunt and her desire to be recognized as a writer. Montgomery's novel beautifully captures themes of resilience, creativity, and the power of self-expression.