Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness-Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy’s talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world.Įmboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities.

Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth 'Izzy' Johnson, her mother’s sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. In Avonlea-a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island-life holds few options for farm girls. Her beloved mother dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh. Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down. before Anne: A marvelously entertaining and moving historical novel, set in rural Prince Edward Island in the nineteenth century, that imagines the young life of spinster Marilla Cuthbert, and the choices that will open her life to the possibility of heartbreak-and unimaginable greatness. A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables.

Sarah mccoy marilla