The Road to Yesterday

Always happy to re-enter the world of Anne Shirley (or Anne Blythe, as she is known in these stories). This is a collection of 14 short stories about characters incidental to the Blythes - their friends/neighbors/acquaintances, etc. Everyone knows the Anne and Gilbert (and their children), and most - but not all - have quite favorable opinions of them. Some of these stories take place after the original Anne series, so warnings for spoilers, if you care for such.

There is sweetness and light, but an equal amount of darkness in this collection. We have hints of the supernatural in "Fancy's Fool;" this is followed by a quite terrifying version of a titular "Dream Come True." There are quite a few long-lost lovers reuniting, as well as a show more sense of Anne's all-encompassing imagination (the aforementioned "Fancy's Fool" and "The Cheated Child" both feature young children with big imaginations who always want to find that comforting, magical place where they will know real love). There's a story featuring a King relative, always a pleasant surprise! There are even connected stories - "Retribution" and "A Commonplace Woman" both feature the Anderson family of some repute.

My favorites were probably "Fool's Errand," about a man who returns to marry a woman he'd met as a girl thirtysomething years before, just as he'd promised, and "A Commonplace Woman," which tells the secret life story of the seemingly unloved and unmissed Ursula Anderson while her family waits for her to die.

An excellent collection, with probably too many mentions of the Blythes to truly be enjoyed if reading it straight after the original series. show less

A collection of short stories set in and around Glen St. Mary. The Blythes are never the focal point of the story, but they appear or are mentioned in all of them. They run chronologically from about the time of Anne of Ingleside up to the Second World War.

I thought that I had read most of Montgomery's short stories long ago, but I seem to have missed this collection. Though I didn't absolutely love any of them, I found some of the stories enjoyable, some mediocre, and some that I outright disliked. In particular, there's one story where a middle-aged man kidnaps a woman and strands her in a house on an island because he doesn't want his life upset by his brother proposing to her. Of course, he ends up falling in love with her himself, show more but I was super creeped out by the whole thing, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't the author's intention. In general, I find that some aspects of Montgomery's writing have not aged well, and this is most obvious in short stories, where the plot is less complex and I'm less likely to be attached to the characters. If you're a Montgomery completist, read it -- if not, this is an okay book to skip. show less

At 4.5/5 stars, this is a solid volume in the L.M. Montgomery collection of short stories. There are quite a few funny tales in here that will make you smile, and Anne and Gilbert Blythe are mentioned in here, since this happens in the same world. Ms. Montgomery had a deft hand for short stories, and it shows here.

What a delightful trip back to Prince Edward Island! One must be familiar with the Blythes'/Ingleside's history in order to fully appreciate these stories; they did indeed provide good moments of poignancy and laughter. To see Rilla of Ingleside's story taking place in the background was quite a touch.

Often I am too lazy to actually write a review for a book but I know many of my friends are big Montgomery fans. I was a little worried about this book. I had read a lot of good reviews but thought how can a book full of short stories about random people be that great. Suprisingly it was. Montgomery worked her magic again. If you like the Anne books then I think you will enjoy this. It is not as good as the Anne books. In somes ways I like the Pat books better than the Emily books but I think this book falls right about at the level of Emily's Quest (my least favorite) and maybe the Pat books. Best way to sum it up is not the best LM Montgomery book but still very good and better than many other books I have read ;)

I still enjoy L. M. Montgomery. But I was reminded in this book how dark she could be (particularly post beginning of WWII). Some of the chapters were typical fun and a couple were the odd homey small town tales. And one or two were dark. But it was a nice jaunt down memory lane and a welcome light repast for the end of the year.

The stories would have been much more satisfying without the constant Blythe name-dropping. One or two stories to allude to the lives of the Blythe clan post-Rilla would have sufficed, not the constant idolization of Anne Blythe.

Regardless there were some good stories in here, especially the last, A Commonplace Woman.