Rilla of Ingleside

Finished Rilla of Ingleside, the eighth book in L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, published in 1921. Rilla is Anne and Gilbert's youngest child. She is 15 when the book begins on the ever of World War I and 19 at the end of the book. Rilla grows tremendously during this time in terms of maturity and personal strength. Loss and longing become mainstays in her young life, but she is buoyed by taking on the responsibility of a newborn infant whose mother has died in childbirth and whose father is at the front. In many ways Rilla misses out on what would have been the happiest and most exciting years of her girlhood, but she would not have ripened into the woman she ultimately becomes if not for the war.

As always there is a wealth of quirky and humorous characters and happenings in the book, but they are of course shadowed by sadness and loss. I don't want to mention any spoilers. This is by far the most compelling book in the series. I couldn't put it down.