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This is the third and final book of a lesser-known series by the author of Anne of Green Gables. The Anne books are more popular, but the Emily books are deeper and darker, and some of my favorite young adult literature. Like Anne, Emily is an orphan. Finding herself alone in the world, she goes to live with conservative relations. The three books chart her coming of age, her college years and her professional endeavors, and are excellently written. Emily is a character of ups and downs -- people who dismiss L.M. Montgomery as a flowery girl's writer have never read the Emily books (or are idiots). When she finally achieves hard-won and often bittersweet success (in life, in work, in love), you are soaring with her.

Montgomery's work is constantly under-estimated, and the way the books are marketed doesn't help (the flowery script, the swoony illustrations). There are many layers at work in her stories, and some pioneering feminist concepts tucked in between the deep appreciation of nature, the commentary on the stuffy contemporary society of her day, and the delightful, well-drawn characters.