First time reading this since pre-teen years. It gives an interesting insight into how WWI impacted the lives of families in Canada/PEI (which is in some ways similar to the Anzac experience) and the stress and emotional turmoil of the years of war, and postwar attitudes and meaning-making relating to the war and lives lost. The character development of Rilla and the Blythe boys (not so much the other girls, who are mostly off at college) is quite lovely, as they rise to the occasions that they find themselves facing. Like in the previous book, Anne is a bit of a shadow, with only glimpses of her girlhood personality. She seems to have been subsumed and subdued by motherhood, which is hard to imagine from the earlier books. It seems likely that the same fate awaits Rilla. Like the previous Anne of GG books, it’s not very diverse and there’s no mention of the indigenous history or peoples of PEI; there’s some disadvantage and misfortune around the edges, but most of the characters are comfortable, well educated and everyone seems to be assumed to be white.