[.ca] Kilmeny Of The Orchard (ISBN 0770421814)

Read it - without expecting too much:
Dont start this book expecting an Emily-like (which I consider Maud's very best) or even an Anne-like romance plot here. Thankfully, I read it before I read the Emily series - and I enjoyed it a lot at the time. While there is a certain charm about the book (it cannot be otherwise if its written by Maud), it lacks that certain - how to put it...ethereality of the Emily romance. There are few of those heartfelt poetry-in-prose paragraphs which makes Emily a standout. But still, if you are a LMMontgomery fan, you wouldnt want to miss it. If no tfor the plot, at least for that very beautiful world which the author manages to draw up with such apparent ease. My advice - do have a gop at it, withou texpecting too much.

One of the best by LM Montgomery:
Everyone is familiar with Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, yet not many realize she has many other books about other equally enchanting characters. Kilmeny of the Orchard is one example of that. Kilmeny is a sweet, mute girl who is the object of the wealthy Eric's desire. Raised in the lap of luxury, Eric has to figure out how to earn what he wants, her love. A lovely, old fashioned story.

Ok, if a bit juvenile:
Not a great book. Not an entirely BAD book, but nothing to go into the Halls of Fame. It reads like an extremely old-fashioned romance novel (which is what it IS, after all), and is simply loaded with cliches and stereotypes (the constant ethnic slurs are particularly offensive to modern readers). I first got hold of this book in a hardcover three-parter with The Story Girl and The Golden Road (which by the way are MUCH better books). When I was younger I thought it was the epitome of fine writing, and the most touching romance ever to be seen. Now it just comes across as eye-rollingly cliched...I mean, a beautiful innocent gifted mute girl, who needs to be Taught In The Ways Of Love by the young, handsome professor? Please. And a lot of the plot was based on just plain stupid superstition. It's a nice piece of fluff, but not fine literature...good for rainy weekends and car trips (not long ones though...as mentioned, it is rather short). Fortunately, it does carry the beautiful flowery descriptions that L. M. Montgomery is so well-known for, so it sails by on that.

Excellent but short:
This book was really good, but if your looking for a few day read this isnt it.

A Wonderful Classic:
Montgomery's wonderful skill in writing really shows in Kilmeny of the Orchard. She truley captures the innocence of a young woman untouched by the dangers and fears of the world. Eric Marshall, a young man born to wealth who has just graduated from college, arrives in out-of-the-way Lindsay, a town on P.E.I. He is substituting as a teacher for his friend who has taken ill. Along the way he meets beautiful Kilmeny, a young woman who cannot speak. Eric falls in love with Kilmeny, but will Kilmeny return his love? Kilmeny of the Orchard is a touching story that one will treasure in his or her heart. In rating it I give it a 5/5.