Unusual for L. M. Montgomery, you are introduced
to the male lead of this story before the heroine makes her appearance. The
story begins as Eric Marshall, a rich and practical man with his life planned
out perfectly is called upon by a ill friend Larry West to fill in for
his teaching position in Lindsay, P.E.I. He arrives, expecting to
fulfill his duty and leave unchanged, but he comes across a the haunting
music of a violin played by a beautiful girl playing in an orchard.
"He had, in his twenty-four years of life met hundreds of pretty
women, scores of handsome women, a scant half-dozen of really beautiful
women. But he knew at once, beyond all possibility of question
or doubt, that he had never seen or imagined anything so exquisite as
this girl of the orchard."
In this brief encounter, Kilmeny Gordon, imprints herself in Eric's mind. Shocking
to him, she looks upon him with terror until he learns her story.
Personal Comments:
Kilmeny of the Orchard holds a fairy tale quality, particularly in its unrealistic
plot twists. Though an interesting story, it never hold my grasp as Montgomery's
other tales do. I think I would have
liked it better as a short story, which makes me wonder what Montgomery's original "Una
of the Garden" (on which Kilmeny was based) was like and how Kilmeny
of the Orchard differs from the original short story.
Last Updated 03.08.07
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