Product Description

Kilmeny of the Orchard is a novel written by popular novelist Lucy Maud Montgomery, who is best known as the author of Anne of Green Gables. This work is the story of a young man by the name of Eris Marshall who goes to Prince Edward Island and meets a mute girl with perfect hearing, named Kilmeny. He hears her during a walk in the woods playing the violin. He spends a great deal of time with her and proposes marriage, and is rejected and is told that she will only embarrass him and that her disability will make him an object of public ridicule. Kilmeny of the Orchard is highly recommended for those who enjoy the novels of author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and for those discovering her wealth of writings for the first time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #734400 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 172 pages

From the Publisher
When twenty-four-year-old Eric Marshall arrives on Prince Edward Island to become a substitute schoolmaster, he has a bright future in his wealthy family's business. Eric has taken the two-month teaching post only as a favor to a friend -- but fate throws in his path a beautiful, mysterious girl named Kilmeny Gordon. With jet black hair and sea blue eyes, Kilmeny immediately captures Eric's heart. But Kilmeny cannot speak, and Eric is concerned for and bewitched by this shy, sensitive mute girl. For the first time in his life Eric must work hard for something he wants badly. And there is nothing he wants more than for Kilmeny to return his love.

From the Inside Flap
When twenty-four-year-old Eric Marshall arrives on Prince Edward Island to become a substitute schoolmaster, he has a bright future in his wealthy family's business.  Eric has taken the two-month teaching post only as a favor to a friend -- but fate throws in his path a beautiful, mysterious girl named Kilmeny Gordon.  With jet black hair and sea blue eyes, Kilmeny immediately captures Eric's heart.  But Kilmeny cannot speak, and Eric is concerned for and bewitched by this shy, sensitive mute girl.  For the first time in his life Eric must work hard for something he wants badly.  And there is nothing he wants more than for Kilmeny to retum his love.

Customer Reviews

Melodramatic but Enjoyable Short Romance
_Kilmeny of the Orchard_ is a very short novel, not one of L. M. Montgomery's better known (and better!) _Anne of Green Gables_ books. This story concerns a young man, Eric Marshall, heir to a well-off shopkeeper, who decides to spend a year after college in a remote Prince Edward Island town. While there, he meets a beautiful young woman, who cannot speak. In all ways she appears perfectly healthy, she can hear just fine, plays an excellent violin, but can't speak. The story is quite melodramatic, as first we are told the story of her mother, who got married to a man who turned out, through no fault of his own, to already be married. Then the young woman, Kilmeny, and Eric fall in love, but Kilmeny feels herself unworthy of marriage, because of her "defect". The resolution involves Kilmeny's step-brother, an Italian orphan, who had also been in love with Kilmeny. This feature reveals one of the more distasteful features of Montgomery's books: her racism (and classism). In the Anne books the racist bits are very minor, involving occasional remarks about the "French". Apparently the French community of New Brunswick (the original Acadians many of whom moved to Louisiana and became the Cajuns (Acadian => 'cadian => Cajun)) were not highly regarded by the Scots and English inhabitants of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. They seem to have been mostly employed as farmhands. In _Kilmeny of the Orchard_ it is made clear from the beginning that Neil, of Southern European birth, somewhat dark-skinned, and an orphan, is a lesser being, prone to emotional outbursts despite having been brought up from birth by Kilmeny's dour Scots Aunt and Uncle.

Anyway, though Kilmeny of the Orchard has significant flaws, it is still an involving and enjoyable read.

A must read for all L.M. Montgomery fans!!
This is one of the best romances I've ever read. It is about a mute girl, Kilmeny, who is very beautiful. Eric, the substituting schoolmaster, falls in love with her, but she won't marry him because she can't speak. Will Kilmeny's love for Eric overcome her muteness? You'll have to read the book to find out.

and 1/2 stars for the book, but 5 stars for the language
KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD is one of Lucy Maud Montgomery's lesser known works.

This novel is about a rich man (Eric), just graduated from college, who goes to Lindsay, PEI, to be a substitute teacher for a good friend who has become ill. While there, he falls in love with a violinist who is deaf (Kilmeny) and furthermore stained at birth.

I will leave the plot at that. Other reviewers have given more detailed versions which are helpful, but if you are going to read the book, I don't want to tell you too much of the plot because I am afraid I will spoil it for you if I tell you anymore of it.

The reason why I gave the book only 2 1/2 stars isn't so much because of the plot itself (although a much used plotline by many writers, Montgomery does manage to make it feel like new) but because of the characters themselves. Eric is described as perfect, perfect, perfect. Kilmeny, despite or even because of her deafness and stained birth, is perfect, perfect, perfect. Everyone in town who sees Eric approves of him because OF HIS LOOKS ALONE. When Eric falls in love with Kilmeny, his main reason--and the only reason mentioned of his wanting to make her his wife--is BECAUSE OF HER LOOKS. There is even a line in the novel where it goes something like "Eric lied on ther ground so that he could he hear her play...
And to also be able to look at her." (That is almost exactly the sentence.)
Now, I know we as a society do base many of our views of people somewhat on their looks, but it does get carried away in this novel, and I am NOT trying to take away from Montgomery's talent as a writer by saying that.

But I can't finish this review leaving anyone with a bad impression of the novel, and it is not for nothing that Lucy Maud Montgomery is considered one of the all-time classic writers.
The language in this novel is exquisite! It is amazing to read her descriptions of fields and orchards and characters and their personalities. I have read many of Montgomery's novels and so am familiar with her use of descriptive language, and never have I seen it better than in this novel. Even though I don't considered this the best of her novels, I do consider it the best in terms of how she uses language. You will feel as though you have lived in Lindsay, and have known its citizens, by the time you finish this.

In short, don't avoid this novel. The beautiful language as well as the fact that Lucy Maud Montgomery is the author of this novel makes it well worth the read.