L.M. Montgomery's Personal Scrapbooks and Book Covers - Book Covers

Rilla of Ingleside

Rilla of Ingleside (1920) The third of Montgomery's war novels, this is the only contemporary war-time (fictional) account by a Canadian woman about the home front. Meant to celebrate the bravery of those who fought and worked for the war effort, the novel is drawn from Montgomery's own journals and covers the full four years of war time. The novel's famous war poem, "The Piper," written by Anne's son Walter, is clearly based on "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian John McCrae. The colorful first-edition cover shows Rilla in Rainbow Valley, having just read Ken's first love letter. What do the setting and her expression tell you about the novel and about women's place in the war? In Montgomery's scrapbook we find a photograph of a window display of Rilla. The book is dedicated to Montgomery's beloved cousin who died of the Spanish flu the war brought in its wake: "To the memory of Frederica Campbell Macfarlane, who went away from me when the dawn broke on January 25th, 1919--a true friend, a rare personality, a loyal and courageous soul."