Poetry ~ The Anne Shirley Fanlisting

ANNE OF INGLESIDE

Seven years after "Anne's House of Dreams," when Anne is visiting Avonlea with Gilbert. When she returns home to the old Morgan house, now named "Ingleside", she is greeted by her five children: James Matthew 'Jem', the eldest, now aged eight; Walter Cuthbert, who is almost seven and a bit of a 'sissy'; Anne 'Nan' and Diana 'Di' twin girls, who are five and nothing alike, Nan having brown hair and eyes like her father and Di having red hair and green eyes; and finally Shirley, two years old and Susan's favorite, as she took care of him as an infant while Anne was very sick following his birth.

The book includes the dreadful, seemingly eternal visit of Gilbert's disagreeable, oversensitive aunt Mary Maria Blythe, whose visit was only supposed to last two weeks but stretches on for months and only leaves when Anne unintentionally offends her by arranging a surprise birthday party, much to the relief of the family. It is in this book that Anne and Gilbert's youngest child is born. She is named Bertha Marilla Blythe, but is also called the roly-poly baby, or, on a daily basis 'Rilla'. "Anne of Ingleside" also includes a series of adventures which spotlight one of Anne's children at a time, and eventually Anne herself. At the end of the book, Anne worries that Gilbert doesn't love her anymore and takes her for granted, and spends a disagreeable evening with the widowed and childless Christine Stuart, who was once Anne's rival - or so she thought - for Gilbert's love. Anne begins to wonder if she has been taking Gilbert for granted. At the end she is proven wrong, as Gilbert's lack of attention was in fact caused by worry over one of his patients and he surprises her with an anniversary gift and a promise of a trip to Europe for a medical congress.