This prequel to Anne of Green Gables ""takes on a rich, real life of its own...I was rapt."" (Washington Post)

For the millions of readers who devoured the Green Gables series, Before Green Gables is an irresistible treat; the account of how one of literature's most beloved heroines became the girl who captivated the world.

""Profound ideas, persuasively fleshed out. L.M. Montgomery would surely have approved.""
-Washington Post

""Good news for those who love the feisty, imaginative heroine of Anne of Green Gables. If the half-dozen or so books by Lucy Maud Montgomery aren't enough, readers now can step back in time to learn about Anne's early years...Anne has many adventures in this briskly plotted novel.""
-Columbus Dispatch

""Wilson makes Anne Shirley speak like Montgomery's Anne Shirley and even provides a credible scenario to show how a backwoods girl with little education managed to acquire the vast, precocious vocabulary that has endeared Anne to many readers.""
-Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada)

""Wilson cleverly and adroitly portrays the essence of Montgomery's famous red-headed orphan.""
-Library Journal