This is my fifth book for the Canadian Book Challenge, and I have to say that this is one of the more enjoyable of Montgomery’s short story collections, in my opinion. It almost seems more Montgomery-ish than other collections, since all the stories take place close to a large body of water. And while they all had different aspects of the sea, it was almost as if you could smell the sea permeating from the pages of each story while reading it.

As to be expected from her short story collections, there were stories that had aspects that were oh-so-familiar to an Anne fan. “The Life-Book of Uncle Jesse” was rewritten into Anne’s House of Dreams, and Uncle Jesse is renamed to Uncle Jim. The story was as heartbreaking here as it was in House of Dreams.

“A Soul That Was Not at Home” was the story of a boy named Paul who told stories of the rock people. While he is not quite the same Paul from Anne of Avonlea, his stories of the rock people are. In this version of the story, Paul is an orphan who has the opportunity to be adopted by a rich woman, except that would mean he would have to leave the sea and his rock people.

Lastly, “Four Winds” tells the story of a minister who is in love with Lynde Oliver… and Lynde happens to be in a situation very similar to Leslie Moore in Anne’s House of Dreams. (Don’t want to spoil it for those who don’t know.) Mind you, she also has a very Emily-ish episode where she has to be rescued because she fell over the cliff trying to gather flowers.

I don’t think there was a story in here I didn’t enjoy. Even “The Waking of Helen”, whose ending was so unexpected was thoroughly enjoyable.