Further
Chronicles of Avonlea was published in 1920. There is a nice
introduction to Further
Chronicles of Avonlea at the Celebration of Women Author's website.
This collection contains 15 stories:
"Aunt Cynthia's Persian Cat"
"The Materializing of Cecil"
"Her Father's Daughter"
"Jane's Baby"
"The Dream-Child"
"The Brother Who Failed"
"The Return of Hester"
"The Little Brown Book
of Miss Emily"
"Sara's Way"
"The Son of His Mother"
"The Education of Betty"
"In Her Selfless Mood"
"The Conscience Case
of David Bell"
"Only a Common Fellow"
"Tannis of the Flats"
"Aunt Cynthia's Persian Cat"
Aunt Cynthia’s pride is her deaf, spoiled white Persian cat named Fatima. Her two nieces (Ismay and Sue) detest it, but Aunt Cynthia leaves the cat with them while she goes to Halifax for two months. Anne Shirley makes an appearance and visited with Dr. Max Irving. Max is Sue’s suitor, who has proposed and been refused by Sue a total of eleven times. When he tells her the next proposal will be the last because of his manly pride, Sue is a little disappointed. The Fatima disappears and Sue calls on Max for help, but he agrees on only one condition. Will Ismay and Sue be able to find the cat in time?
"The Materializing of Cecil"
Charlotte is an old maid of Avonlea, who secretly writes poetry, and who has
never received a single proposal. Though she is not unhappy that she’s
single, it stings her that she never had an admirer. On the day of her
fortieth birthday, she attends the Sewing Circle and is asked if she ever
had a beau. In the crowd full of women, she lies and answers “yes,” and
invents the name for her beau: Cecil Fenwick. She lies that she met him
in New Brunswick at 18, the only time she was far from Avonlea. When the
real Cecil Fenwick shows up in Avonlea, what will happen?
Note: This story was revisited in the television series “Road to Avonlea” as
the episode “The Materializing of Duncan McTavish” where Marilla
Cuthbert invents a suitor for herself.
"Her Father's Daughter"
Isabella Spencer and her daughter Rachel are planning the invitation list for
Rachel’s wedding. When, Rachel wants to invite her father David Spencer
to her wedding, her mother is shocked. David Spencer left his wife to sail
on a sea voyage, against Isabella’s wishes. When he returned, she
turned him away, in spite of the fact that she was pregnant with his child.
Now, twenty-five years later, David has never played a physical role in
his daughter’s life, outside her imagination, aside from one chance
meeting when Rachel was nine. How will Rachel manage to have both her father
and her mother at her wedding?
"Jane's Baby"
Rosetta Ellis and Charlotte Wheeler are estranged sisters, who have not spoken
since Charlotte eloped with Jacob Wheeler. When Rosetta learns that their
cousin Jane Roberts is dying and has sent word to Charlotte to raise her
six month old baby, she is stunned. As the eldest, Rosetta feels this is
her duty, and wants to raise the baby herself. She leaves earlier than
Charlotte to claim the child and both sisters must fight for who will raise
the orphan.
"The Dream-Child"
David and Josephine were happily married and content until the death of their
twenty month old son. Josephine begins to hear her child calling to her
while she sleeps and looks for him along the shore. David dutifully follows
her on her vigils to find the dream-child, although he never hears the
child himself and wonders if his wife is losing her mind in grief.
"The Brother Who Failed"
The Monroe children all gather in White Sands for a Christmas reunion for the
first time in thirty years. All the children are successes in their chosen
professions, except Robert. He’s the eldest of the children, but
is overlooked. When he overhears his aunt refer to him as a failure, he
believes these words to be true, but are they?
Note: This is my favorite story of the collection.
"The Return of Hester"
Margaret Meredith is still devoted to her sister Hester’s memory fifteen
years after her death. Meredith’s elder by fifteen years, Hester more
a mother than a sister. When Meredith was twenty-five, Hugh Blair courted her
for a month during her sister’s absence. Hester ended the romance, and
both Meredith and Hugh never marry. On her deathbed, Hester makes her sister
promise never to marry Hugh who was beneath her. So when Hugh asks for Meredith’s
hand after Hester’s death, she sadly turns him away a second time. Will
Meredith be held forever to her promise?
"The Little Brown Book of Miss Emily"
The story is narrated by Anne Shirley of the time after Miss Lavendar and Mr.
Irving’s wedding at Echo Lodge. Spending time with their friends,
Anne and Diana also meet the Leiths of Grafton. They like the whole family,
but find Miss Emily Leith meddlesome and impossible to like. Before Miss
Emily dies, she asks her family to give a box of her belongings to Anne
at Green Gables. When Anne and Diana see the contents of the box (including
a journal), they learn that Miss Emily was a very different woman than
they ever perceived.
"Sara's Way"
Everyone in Avonlea has wanted Sara Andrews to marry Lige Baxter for two years.
Sara thinks he’s too faultless and perfect, and for those unusual
reasons she refused to marry him. When the Baxter fortune is lost, Sara
silences the gossip waged against Lige. Will his failure help Lige in his
quest for Sara’s heart?
"The Son of His Mother"
Thyra Carewe has an unusual nature. She is serious, harsh and she worships
her only son Chester. As she awaits his return to their house, August Vorst,
the Avonlea mail-carrier (a lame, hunched midget (more LMM stereotypes!)),
brings word that Chester was being delayed by the beautiful Daramis Garland.
Thyra flings insults him and calls him a liar and then breaks down. She
is shocked her son could love anyone but herself, and she forces him to
choose between her and Daramis. He chooses his mother, but he now resents
her. When he is lost at sea, Thyra calls for Daramis, the only person she
wants to see.
Note: Thyra is reminiscent of Teddy Kent’s mother in the Emily series.
"The Education of Betty"
Stephen was heartbroken at twenty-two, when Sara Currie and Jack Churchill
married. He was in love with Sara and Jack was his bosom friend. After
being best man at the wedding, Stephen went abroad for ten years. Meanwhile,
Jack died, and a year later Stephen returned home. He proposed to Sara
and was refused, and decided to take upon himself the education of Sara
and Jack’s spoiled, ten year old daughter Betty. Then, Stephen’s
romantic feelings for Betty grow, complicating matters as he tries to advise
her to marry his young nephew.
Note: In some ways this story seems a precursor to Emily and Dean in the Emily
series.
"In Her Selfless Mood"
On her deathbed, Naomi Holland makes her daughter, Eunice Carr, promise to
always care for Eunice’s half-brother Christopher. Eunice keeps her
promise and turns away a suitor because of her promise to her brother.
Eventually, Christopher marries, and Christopher and his new wife turn
Eunice out. Eunice is left as an unpaid, upper servant, and she never enters
her childhood home. Years later, Christopher falls ill with smallpox, Eunice
must decide whether to help her brother.
"The Conscience Case of David Bell"
With an evangelist making waves in Avonlea, the townspeople are making testimonials,
all except a few, including David Bell and Matthew Cuthbert. David's children
and wife notice his reticence since the revival meetings began. His family
does not realize that David had a something troubling his conscience.
"Only a Common Fellow"
Engaged to "common" Mark Foster, Phillippa speaks with her Aunt Rachel
on the morning of her wedding. She thinks back to her love for Owen Blair and
her hopes of marrying him. Owen died fighting in WWI and is buried in France.
Her wedding is the doing of her step-mother, though Phillippa wishes to remain
true to Owen's memory. Phillippa's step-mother, Isabella, turns out to be evil
and unscrupulous. With a late twist to the story, will Phillippa marry a man
she does not love?
"Tannis of the Flats"
After visiting her brother in the Flats in the
Canadian Northwest, Elinor Blair kept her admirers at a distance and had a
new serious and quiet personality. Now twenty-five years later, her friend
and neighbor remembers the story of Jerome Carey, as told by Elinor's brother
Tom. Jerome was teaching Paul Dumont the telegraphic code. When he meets Tannis
Dumont, he finds the Flats more tolerable. Jerome
leads Tannis on until Elinor enters the picture, and he drops Tannis completely.
The climax of the story is a gun fight. Although Tannis is most wronged character
in the story, she also displays the most courage. LMM displays her disgusting
racism towards the Indians in this story.
Last Updated 03.08.07
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