Year 2 at Windy Poplars

Happy Friday, Kindred Spirits!

How is everyone feeling now that we have read about the 1st two years at Windy Poplars? I felt much more connected in my reading of Year 2, than I did with Year 1. Partly because I have a better sense and connection to these new characters, and partly because we returned to Green Gables for Christmas! I had been instantly disappointed to start off Year 2 with summer already over and with no depiction of Anne’s time in Green Gables, but the Christmas break made up for that.

Windy Poplars was written 21 years after Anne of the Island. It is chronologically the fourth of the series, but was the seventh written, which may explain some of the differences in the feel. Realizing this has helped me to embrace the stories more. I can imagine if I were a reader during the years the book was published how thrilled I would be to have a return of Anne over 20 years later! It would be like a visit from a long lost friend.

Year 2 was filled with the sentiments of a life-loving Anne. Proclamations like “Nobody is ever too old to wear just what she wants to wear”! 

This week I am reading Anne from Sarasota, Florida, where I am visiting my Grandmother.

And along with the deep joys of life, Anne’s journey is accompanied with the sorrows of the world as well. Grief sneaks up on us again after the brief encounter with the “Little Fellow”, Teddy Armstrong, who is instantly lovable upon meeting, but when Lewis and Anne go to visit him again and to deliver his photograph they learn of his sudden death by pneumonia. Even though we hardly knew this character, I felt deeply affected to read of his death. The road gets twistier once we learn that Lewis is Mr. Armstrong’s nephew (and the Little Fellow’s cousin), giving them both a family member in a world in which they feel very alone. Mr. Armstrong invites Lewis to live with him, providing a full circle to this sad little story.

This was the first new character story within Windy Poplars that I wanted to dig into and get to know the characters’ arc. It feels good to be connected once again to the story, though I don’t know if we will learn any more of this particular story.

Anne invites the cranky teacher Katherine Brooke to spend Christmas with her at Green Gables, urging her to “open your doors to life”. Meanwhile, lonely little Elizabeth is devastated to lose her Anne over the Christmas holiday.

Fortunately for the reader, Christmas brings us back to Green Gables too! All the familiar faces, including the memory of Matthew, and Anne’s homecoming are not skipped over during this holiday visit. Katherine opens up to Anne about her upbringing and the challenges she’s faced, all of which she is only willing to admit after the glossiness of Anne’s life is demystified by Anne sharing a bit about her lonely life prior to Green Gables. Katherine is the opposite of Anne in so many ways, most of all in her approach to life, “oh does life ever frighten you. . . with its blankness, its swarms of cold, uninteresting people” (can you imagine a quote less Anne than this?!), but after one day in Anne’s world Katherine thinks “life already seemed warmer”. Anne outdoes herself in the charm department when she gifts Katherine a puppy on Christmas morning!

Another brief and somewhat frustrating storyline is introduced in the form of the 18-year-old Hazel who adores Anne, but then feels utterly betrayed and enraged at her. Anne’s meddling has finally gotten the better of her when she breaks up the engagement between Hazel and Terry, infuriating Hazel even though she asked for Anne’s help in doing exactly that! After the consequences had been suffered, Anne has some insightful self-awareness recognizing that she liked “saving people from their own folly when they didn’t in the least want to be saved from it”. Anne has gotten herself in the middle of many dramas before, but they all ended with the players involved happy at the results. This time no one involved is happy with Anne.

However, Anne will continue to do all she can to make others happier, even though her attempt with Hazel backfired. Anne is returning to Green Gables for her second summer since starting her Principalship job. Gilbert will not be there as he is going west for the summer to work on the building of a new railroad. For two weeks, little Elizabeth joins Anne and she has the time of her life! Katherine follows and spends the rest of her summer at Green Gables. This portion of the book really demonstrates how Anne offers the beauty and safety of Green Gables as a gift to the other lonely souls she encounters. Green Gables gave her the life of her dreams, and she is sure to share that gift with others. It truly is beautiful.

We have one more year left at Windy Poplars and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next. Where will Anne go once she and Gilbert can be reunited? Will they return to Green Gables or go somewhere new to build their House of Dreams? I am looking forward to seeing where the bend in the road takes us next, but first let’s see how Anne’s final year in Summerside develops!

Thank you for reading

Thank you for reading and joining me on this read-along of Anne of Green Gables! 

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Your bosom friend,

Bri