let me start by saying i am a huge anne of green gables fan...read them all as a girl...still re-read certain parts of them from time to time...they are the second major book purchase i ever made(first being the little house on the prairie books) so when i found out there was prequel coming out i was very excited...i should have saved my excitement for something else...the beginning discusses anne's parents and you start to see where some of her quirks came from (although i felt that they gave her parents those quirks to explain anne's quirks)...but once her parents pass away and she goes to live with the Thompsons everything about this book begins to be horrible...it is not a book written for a young female audience (too detailed and disheartening) and if this is the first book in the series the reader picks up it is highly unlikely that they will move on to anne of green gables...i don't see how the author expects us to believe that a young girl who endured this life up to the age of 11 could then become the caring and kind girl in the rest of the series...from everything i know about psychology (which isn't a lot) that just isn't possible...this anne would be distrustful, distant, cynical, and suspicious...the anne shirley i grew up with is none of these things

i do not recommend this book to anyone