Decisions and Marilla of Green Gables

One of my most recent audio books is one called Marilla of Green Gables, by Sarah McCoy. It’s a spin-off of Marilla from Anne of Green Gables from before Anne arrived in her life. The whole book was incredible, but the ending especially stood out to me. It brought to focus how Marilla’ s decisions affected her the rest of the book, and in turn directed where it ended. I was very impressed by not only the quality of the story, but also of the way Sarah McCoy wrapped it up in a way that causes you to dwell on why and how it came to be that way. It’s a book that makes you pause and think.

This is going to be a pleasant post where I discuss this book by Sarah McCoy and the profound thoughts suggested by it. Think of this like a book club discussion, full of delightful tidbits of thought combined with just the right mix of books.

But before I dive in today I have a quick announcement. A very special friend of mine who keeps a blog called Ella’s Tea Table has been doing a really awesome series called Where Homes Converge this summer. It has been an absolutely incredible series, which you should totally check out. Last Tuesday she published a guest post I wrote about service. Click here to go read it for yourself, and make sure to subscribe to Ella Em’s blog while you’re at it! 🙂

Marilla of Green Gables, by Sarah McCoy*

Any book set to have taken place before the days of Anne, written by anyone other than Lucy Maud Montgomery was not something I would read without my suspicions. After all, it had every potential to be a pitiful attempt at a story simply to catch and trap Anne fans into reading it.

But Marilla of Green Gables is not pitiful. It is a well written, well told, and well set story about the woman who later went on to love and nurture Anne, in her own special way, of course. 😉 This book reveals the story of Marilla’s past so vividly it felt like I was reading a historical fiction novel about some well known person in history. At the same time it weaves the history of Marilla, it is paving the way for the story of Anne which will come so many years later.

I adored this book! The writing is smooth and lovely, making me fall in love with the world of Avonlea even more than I already had. The descriptions are perfection. If I had tried to mark all the times in which the words brought bright, beautiful life to things such as a plant, food, or sweet raspberry treat, I would surely have had to give up. The whole book was one lovely read.

But the best part of this whole book is the ending. The more I read of the book, the more I wondered how the author would possibly sum it up. It seemed nearly impossible for the book to stay true to its own story while not disturbing the story of Anne which was to happen later. And yet the ending did. Not only did it fit the terms for Marilla herself, but you could also feel the slight beginning of Anne’s story in its conclusion. It was all so masterfully done, I could hardly believe it was true.

*While this book could be considered okay for children, I would label it as more of a teen book due to concepts and events that are mentioned.

The Significance of Our Decisions

Marilla looked round at the faces surrounding her in the house her mother and father had built. In each pock and pit, she saw the choices that had shaped her and led her to this moment. She couldn't change one without affecting the whole. 
-Chapter 35

At the end of the book Marilla has a moment where she looks around at where she is, what she has done, and who she has become. She sees the way her every decision affected where she is now. And while that is bittersweet, it also reminds her that where she goes in the future can be changed by what she does now. This is a powerfully shown message. Marilla made constant decisions from the very beginning of the book right through to its end. And while I doubt anyone would fault her for the way she handled the situations she was forced into, we can see how they might have changed the outcome of her story.

She didn’t choose for her mother to die, but she did choose how to treat others after that happened. She didn’t choose for her Aunt Izzy to leave again, but she could choose rather to go with her or stay at Green Gables. Her story, just like those of all of us, is made up of a million choices, some bad, some good. Some don’t seem to matter much, but they can add up to weakened friendships or broken trust over time.

I love the way this book highlighted the weight of how we choose to act. Every word we say is a choice, a tool we can use to help or hurt, to love or hate, to pull closer or push away.

Galatians 5:16-26 (where we find the Fruit of the Spirit) talks about how the good and perfect things of God are directly against the desires of our bodies, meaning that we have to be making constious choices everyday to follow in the way of the Spirit. It isn’t our natural desire, but it is something we have to fight to lead us.

This is the significance of our decisions, as illustrated so profoundly in Marilla of Green Gables. They are not something we can simply let pass us by, working themselves out so we don’t have to. They require careful thought and sometimes strong will. Because even if they don’t seem important now, decisions matter to our future, and they matter in our fight against the enemy.

Final Thoughts

I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it! Marilla of Green Gables is a perfectly charming book that I savored every word of. I highly suggest it. And although it does make for a wonderful stand-alone story, the book is all the more special if you’ve already read the Anne of books that follow it.

Have you ever heard of this book, or maybe another one like it? Let’s talk about Avonlea spin-off books in the comments. I’d love to hear more suggestions for books like this one!