The Blythes are Quoted, by Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Blythes Are Quoted was first published in the fall of 2009. Published by Penguin Canada, it was and remains hard to find a copy in the states. I finally ordered my copy from Amazon.ca because I couldn't find it here. I'm hoping it will increase in popularity such that it will become more widely available. It's mildly annoying to me that it is not!

All of the descriptions I read about The Blythes Are Quoted talk about how this is a darker version of Montgomery. She completed this manuscript shortly before her death and it was, in fact, delivered to her publisher the morning that she died. (No one knows who delivered it.) The Blythes Are Quoted was written and intended to be the ninth book in the Anne series. So, my friends, if you haven't read this one then you haven't completely read the Anne series!

Now, her publisher did use parts of the manuscript, preparing and presenting it to the public as a series of short stories compiled under the title The Road to Yesterday (which I own and have read.) What the publisher apparently decided at the time was that the public couldn't handle the darker side of Montgomery and wanted to release more of her traditional fare and so they edited it down and removed parts that they thought would not be readily accepted.

So, The Blythes Are Quoted landed in my quivering little hands with the following words attached to it: "adultery, illegitimacy, revenge, murder, and death." Definitely more foul words than what we are used to from Montgomery's pen, hmm?

Honestly, I was worried. I like the fact that, as Barbara H. pointed out in her post about Anne of Avonlea, Montgomery's stories are wholesome and sweet. I was worried about what Montgomery might have done to the Blythe family at the end of her own life. What would I find? What became of Anne and Gilbert? Then I read the book. And I'm more inclined to say that using words like adultery, illegitimacy, revenge, murder and death are more of an advertisement to sell books and, quite frankly, I'm a bit annoyed.

Quickly, this book does tell us more about the Blythe family. The book is divided into two parts - before World War I (and Walter's death) and after World War I, as history was marching us into the second World War. This book is unique in that Montgomery chose to tell us more about the Blythes through poetry (Anne would read passages that she or Walter wrote aloud to the family which would then be commented on by various family members) and through short stories involving the lives of others. References to the family are how we glean our information about them. We are occasionally invited to Ingleside for evening readings but beyond that, the Blythes remain somewhat distant and, I would hastily point out, we find them just as wholesome and agreeable as ever.

We do discover interesting things about Anne and Gilbert as they discuss their past relationship. We also learn how they handled the children out of Susan's earshot and presence, which I thought was kind of interesting. We learn some of the names of their grandchildren and can confirm some births and marriages. It is very intriguing.

As to the darker side, I admit it's true in that there are more ghost stories. I might have been more shocked by this had I not just read Legends of Prince Edward Island (linked to my review.) Because I had read that book first, I wasn't taken aback by the ghosts and alleged ghosts that Montgomery chooses to involve in her stories here. Having read Legends, I would say that The Blythes Are Quoted makes more sense to me in regards to Montgomery wanting to tell stories in a different fashion. Through legends, ghosts and poetry she definitely changes her style, but there is nothing terribly unpredictable.

Perhaps I am being too simplistic and some would likely argue that I very much am. However, I felt the book was still very true to Montgomery and her Island heritage and love of poetry. Nothing took me by surprise.

All that explained, she writes with perhaps a bit more hopelessness than I think we can see in some of her other works. I'm not terribly surprised by that either, considering she wrote this at the end of her life when she was not in the best state of mind herself. I would say that she is perhaps more honest in this book, not trying to make all of her characters the picture of rose colored mental health. There is a story in here, for example, of a man who spends his entire marriage wishing he had married someone else. The story could have been disturbing. However, she's still Montgomery and, dare I say it?, her style is still predictable. At the end of the story the husband realizes that he has played the absolute fool and repents most wholeheartedly! It doesn't account for his wasted years but it does end admirably and in a just manner.

There is indeed a murder and I do think that particular story is the darkest of them all. There really is no hope in it, as you might long for and/or expect. But one story in a 510 page novel doesn't really get me down. Yes, it exist. But if the entire book is promoted as containing murder and death then I think anyone looking for Montgomery morbidity might be slightly disappointed.

In short (ha! ha!) - I was glad to have read this book. For me, it really does complete the Anne series. It makes sense. It falls into place. It keeps the spirit of Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside alive by letting us see the Blythes through the eyes of others in the community. I don't want to spoil too much of what is shared because I think you ought to read this one for yourselves. I shall tuck it on my shelf next to my other Anne books and will think well of it. I'm tremendously pleased that it was presented, unedited, as Montgomery originally intended for it to be.