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Kilmeny of the Orchard

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 · rating details · 3,046 ratings · 207 reviews

When Eric Marshall arrives on Prince Edward Island to become a substitute schoolmaster, he has a bright future in his wealthy family's business. But fate throws a beautiful, mysterious girl named Kilmeny Gordon into his path.

Paperback, 144 pages

Published September 1st 1989 by Starfire (first published 1910)

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Aug 30, 2009 Abigail rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: L.M. Montgomery Fans

Shelves: childrens-fiction, lm-montgomery

Review Temporarily Removed.

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Dec 25, 2010 Hope rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: lucy-maud, reviewed, 2010-reads, disappointing, fluff-n-stuff, canadian

This book was really short, and hence, this review will probably be short.

First, L.M. Montgomery was not at her best in this novella. This had none of the almost unconscious charm of the famed Anne of Green Gables or even The Blue Castle (which was slightly shallow, yes, but still charming). Perhaps it's because neither Anne nor Valancy, the heroines of those stories, were particularly pretty. But they were witty and intelligent and their peculiarities and absurdities made them strangely lovable...more

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Mar 22, 2012 faeriemyst rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-literature, love-stories

Kilmeny of the Orchard is the tale of Eric Marshall, who as a favor to a sick friend comes to the small town of Lindsay on Prince Edward Island to teach at the school. While walking one day, he wanders into a long forgotten orchard and hears beautiful violin music being played by a beguiling young lady, the book's namesake, Kilmeny. Frightened, Kilmeny flees the orchard and though Eric comes back the next night and then the next, she doesn't return. Disappointed and intrigued, he asks his landla...more Kilmeny of the Orchard is the tale of Eric Marshall, who as a favor to a sick friend comes to the small town of Lindsay on Prince Edward Island to teach at the school. While walking one day, he wanders into a long forgotten orchard and hears beautiful violin music being played by a beguiling young lady, the book's namesake, Kilmeny. Frightened, Kilmeny flees the orchard and though Eric comes back the next night and then the next, she doesn't return. Disappointed and intrigued, he asks his landlady about the girl he has seen, not yet knowing her name, and in doing so learns the story of Kilmeny. Mute since birth, she lives sequestered at home with her aunt and uncle who the town considers odd because they keep to themselves, so no one in the town has ever laid eyes on her. Soon after that first meeting, she comes back to the orchard and a friendship between the two begins to bloom towards love.

I went into Kilmeny of the Orchard expecting a sweet love story, which is basically what I got, but I wanted to love the book and unfortunately only ended up finding it so-so. The writing was as lovely as you would expect from L.M. Montgomery and the descriptions brought a certain life to most scenes. However, while I enjoyed the story for the most part, I didn't become immersed into either it or the characters. This may have to due with how perfect both Eric and Kilmeny were and there was really no "impossible obstacles" to overcome (as the book put it). While I expected a slight fairy tale feel to the book, I was disappointed that there really wasn't depth to the overall story or the characters, especially whenever Eric thought about Kilmeny it was mostly to mention her looks or how innocent and without guile she was. Okay, so it's a new love and his first true love, but a little more interaction rather than rhapsodizing over her perfections would have been preferable. Because the book is a product of a different time and place, a few remarks about "foreigners", such as Neil Gordon who was born in Lindsay to Italian peddlers, Kilmeny's "defect", and other mindsets stood out. I wouldn't say they alienated me from the book but they occasionally took me out of the story. Even though I understand those views in context to the time this was written, it can still be a hard adjustment for a modern reader. So while this was at times a nice read, it's hardly something I'll remember back upon.(less)

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Jun 16, 2012 Liesel rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit, so-fun, romance, young-adult

This is an old-fashioned, predictable and saccharine romance that is not L.M. Montgomery's best work. Her descriptions of the orchard were captivating and it became my favorite character. The actual people? Not likable to me at all. I loved Anne and Emily, so was not prepared for Kilmeny. Yeah, we get it she is gorgeous and innocent (Eric's on and on swooning over her because of these two superficial things are gag-worthy.)

I felt like she was the "poor sweet beautiful disabled girl," and her le...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Xuelin Yeong rated it 2 of 5 stars

I downloaded this book from Project Gutenberg,expecting Kilmeny to be something like Anne or Emily, two of my favourite heroines of all time. Well, Kilmeny was nothing like the aforementioned two, although she did possess a special charm of her own. I loved the fact that she was so innocent and childlike, although it is quite hard to believe that she had never looked into a mirror in her entire life. And I also like the link between her and the orchard--would her charm fade away when she is ruth...more

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Oct 19, 2010 Anne Osterlund rated it 4 of 5 stars

Eric Marshall is a calm, straight-laced young man set to commit his future to business. Because he isn’t opposed to it. But when his friend, Larry West, has to duck out early on a teaching contract—due to health problems—Eric agrees to step into the breach and plunge into the abyss of the Lindsey schoolhouse on Prince Edward Island.

Little does he know that on P.E.I. waits a girl with jet black hair and sea green eyes. A girl who believes she is ugly and roams the orchard, speaking through her vi...more

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May 14, 2013 Sneh Pradhan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Certainly not the better out of L.M. Montgomery's oeuvre. She seems to be in a half-inspired mood while she was penning this short ( very short ) saga of a heroine, Kilmeny who has neither the childlike powers of imagination nor the wit of Anne ( of Green Gables and the series ). Comparisons to Montgomery's famous and absolutely adorable heroine are inevitable , though if you even confine yourself to just Kilmeny, her charcter sketch, or for that matter , Eric Marshall (the hero) or anyone else'...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Rachel Brown rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: canada, mainstream

This has got to be Montgomery's worst book. By far.

A young man of staggering perfection takes over a teaching position for a few months, and discovers a beautiful mute girl, Kilmeny, and a Italian gypsy named Neil. Even worse than it sounds. The prose is stilted and overwritten, Italians are lusty bundles of untamed passion, and the story is sappy. But don't take my word for it: meet Kilmeny:

"Her face was oval, marked in every cameo-like line and feature with that expression of absolute, flawle...more

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Nov 27, 2010 Kiera Beddes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: eng-420, pre-1920

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Genre: historical fiction? romance (good romance, not bodice ripping romance)
Summary: Eric Marshall is a well-to-do, polite college graduate who substitutes as a country schoolmaster for a sickly friend. In the quaint town of Lindsay, Eric chances upon the achingly beautiful Kilmeny in an abandoned orchard. Of course, it's summertime and beautiful outside. Eric falls madly in love. The only fly in the ointment is the fact that Kilmeny is a mute. She can hear perfectly and even laugh out loud som...more

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Oct 31, 2010 Sherwood Smith added it

A friend gave me this book years and years ago--I think it's a first edition. On Anne Osterlund's recco, I took it down to look at it.

I can see why many love it still--the true star of the book is the scenery, rather than the characters. The way that Montgomery writes about nature shifts you to liminal space, within a heartbeat of the numinous.

The reason, though, that I hadn't reread it in all these years was because the basic plot feels like a short story stretched out into a novel. That, and t...more

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Sep 13, 2010 Audra rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 28, 2013 Ceri rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a sweet novella from the author of Anne of Green Gables. Eric goes to Prince Edward Island to provide teaching cover for his friend. While exploring one evening Eric comes across Kilmeny,the most beautiful girl he's ever seen, playing exquisite music on the violin. He finds out that she is mute and has had a very isolated upbringing. Being unable to forget Kilmeny, Eric finds himself going back time and again to the orchard. Although mute, Kilmeny isn't deaf and she's able to communicate...more

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May 02, 2012 Kathryn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, childrens, romance, young-adult

This is another of L.M. Montgomery's short YA novels. It was ok, I guess; I couldn't help thinking that Kilmeny deserved a little more time out in the world before she committed to the main character.

Overall, I don't think this book is as strong as Montgomery's other work. It's more fanciful, and the plotting isn't paced particularly well; the major problem of the book is set up rather slowly, but when it finally comes to a head, a secondary character quickly provides a possible solution, and th...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Debbie rated it 1 of 5 stars

This is the story of a substitute teacher at a rural school in Prince Edward Island who meets and falls in love with a mute girl. Other than her dumbness, Kilmeny is perfection itself, unbelievably beautiful (even the hands that help her aunt with 1910 rural housework), incredibly musically talented, and intelligent.

GAH! Beauty makes one desirable, Europeans are lower-class, happy, happy, happy endings are guaranteed. Gag me.

1 star for the descriptions of PEI because as the author says: Prince E...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Tiina rated it 3 of 5 stars

The descriptions in the Kilmeny of the Orchard were very beautiful and it was also very easy to read this book. The story was sweet but also nothing too special and quite full of clichés. I don't think it will stay with me, but it did keep me entertained enough to finish the book.

Kilmeny of the Orchard is the product of the beginning of the 20th century - it can be seen everywhere: in the diction, in the plot, in the characters themselves... If you are a fan of such novels, I'm quite sure you w...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Whitney rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lyrical prose and a sweet, gentle love story full of lusciously descriptive settings and emotion with a dash of everyday humor to make it all more human. How I love L.M. Montgomery.

(I caution readers with modern tastes that as advanced a writer as she was for her time L.M. Montgomery was still a product of that time and some of her social mores come out in her descriptions of characters from other ethnic backgrounds (in this case a young boy who seems to come from an Italian background). She te...more

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Jul 20, 2009 Elissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Kilmeny of the Orchard was one of the most delightful books I have ever had the pleasure to read. I positively devoured it. It a sweet, wholesome fairytale-like story, with Montgomery’s signature lovable, quaint, and funny characters, a rather predictable plot – yet with some surprising twists here and there. The many happy scenes make it a very feel-good, “happily ever after” story, but there are enough sad and almost heart-wrenching parts to prevent it from becoming overly syrupy-sweet and hap...more

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Jan 22, 2011 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Eric Marshall has accepted a teaching post in the quaint village of Lindsay, with the intent of staying but the few brief months to finish the term of the previous head master. While exploring the surrounding country side, Eric discovers an abandoned apple orchard that so betwixts him, he lingers to enjoy its beauty. After but a few minutes his meditative state is startled by the strings of a violin, played beautifully by an enchanting, mistress who is also enjoying the orchard. As Eric approach...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, l-m-montgomery

I really enjoyed this. I'd tried to read it before, but hadn't managed to get into it, but this time I did. It's a total fairytale - rich man, poor girl, huge stumbling block in the way of marriage, not to mention the characterless bad guy with evil designs, near disaster, followed by everyone living happily ever after. But there's nothing wrong with a good fairytale every now and then! It does a little more depth than normal fairytales, though - there's lots of backstory that doesn't get reveal...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Tracey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: canada, 1901-1950, islanders

This one didn’t live up to the memory I had of reading it as a tween. It was an early book of L.M.M.’s; boy takes over teaching position for sick friend, boy hears beautiful violin playing from an orchard, boy falls rump over teakettle in love with violinist, and is dismayed to find she is a fiercely protected mute girl who has hardly been out of her house since she was small. From then on it is a pitched battle as the hero seeks a way to make Kilmeny whole, and to make her his. In this one the...more

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Dec 20, 2007 Clare Moss rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, a-game-of-authors

This little book is so unassuming, sitting on my shelf, with its battered corners. It is so very well-loved. I bought it when I was probably eleven or so and put it away for a while, and then it became one of my favorite love stories in the world. It's just so simple and elegant and beautiful.

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Jun 28, 2011 Stacy rated it 2 of 5 stars

I don't know about LMM's outstanding understanding of human nature, but, not for the first time, I was shocked by the racism exhibited by one of my favourite children's authors. The first time this happened to me, I was reading Gene Stratton Porter; LMM's racism is kind and gentle compared to the former, but it still sickens me. In a place where looks play such a huge role, we should have suspected that Neil Gordon's dark, foreign looks would leave him open to scathing criticism. Of course, it g...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Jenna St Hilaire rated it 4 of 5 stars

All of Montgomery's fiction seems to turn on the concept of a personal fairyland, a world of radiant dream and joyous vision, of "beauty beyond the lot of mortals". This was perhaps most obvious in The Blue Castle, but is no less central to Kilmeny's story.

Eric Marshall finds his personal fairyland when he stumbles across an abandoned orchard, with lilacs and June lilies and apple blossoms running wild—a realm possessed by an exquisite, silent child-woman with a superb gift for the violin. Kilme...more All of Montgomery's fiction seems to turn on the concept of a personal fairyland, a world of radiant dream and joyous vision, of "beauty beyond the lot of mortals". This was perhaps most obvious in The Blue Castle, but is no less central to Kilmeny's story.

Eric Marshall finds his personal fairyland when he stumbles across an abandoned orchard, with lilacs and June lilies and apple blossoms running wild—a realm possessed by an exquisite, silent child-woman with a superb gift for the violin. Kilmeny and her orchard have ten times the magic necessary to captivate any decent man with a touch of poetry about him, and Eric is as enchanted as if she were the queen of the fairies, appearing to charm him out of his own world and into hers.

Far from being some beguiler from the fae, however, Kilmeny is the epitome of the virginal ideal: innocent by nature, but also carefully preserved from the stains and sorrows of the world; trusting as a child, but womanly and wise in her own way. And, of course, flawlessly beautiful. Short of depictions of Mary, it's rare to find an image of purer loveliness. The book is worth reading for this alone, though those who tend to resent perfection in a fictional character—and those who resent, in particular, the 'virginal ideal'—may find it less interesting.

Whether intended by Montgomery or not, of course, Kilmeny works only as a Blue Castle or radiant dream. Women who combine her physical and moral infallibility with exceptional talent and a malleable, appealing temperament show up about as often in reality as men who unite all Mr. Darcy's perfections to an English manor with a gorgeous park ten miles round. For readers who value dreams, however, this cannot detract from the pleasure of reading about Kilmeny, and she would probably have a fair number of namesakes born over the last hundred years if the name could not be basically pronounced as "kill many".

The name itself comes from a James Hogg ballad entitled, simply, "Kilmeny". The parallels between the sweet Kilmeny Gordon of Lindsay and the too-pure-for-this-life Kilmeny of the "green-wood wene" are unmistakable, though the tales differ greatly; it's almost as if Montgomery took her idea of the nascent, pre-vision character of the ballad and wrote another story for her, liminal in its own way, but with less of the unearthly poignancy.

The book contains the old northern prejudice against hotblooded peoples from warmer lands, and the Italian orphan Neil Gordon suffers accordingly. His actions serve their part in the plot well enough, however.

As Mrs. Williamson says, Eric Marshall "is a fine young man, only a little thoughtless"—wealthy and confident and clever, prone with some reason to think rather well of himself, but good and reliable despite all that. The heroine of this story is far more interesting than the hero, and both worldly justice and poetic justice make it imperative that he be worthy of her. Eric proves his quality not merely by having money and looks and passion, but by his decency to his friends, his respect for all women, his stability, and his willingness both to accept painful criticism and to defend his own decisions when he is in the right.

Though neither prose nor tale flows quite as naturally as some of Montgomery's other works, it's a sweet and simple read—a delightful, mostly-hidden little beauty, rather like the old orchard it describes.(less)

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Feb 02, 2012 Libby rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 16, 2012 Mandi Ellsworth added it

How did Ms. Montgomery do it? I can never read a story she's written without feeling I have made some new friends. I love the way she writes. I love the way she thinks. I love the stories she tells. This is a tiny little book, that probably started out as a short story, so it doesn't take long to read. It's about a schoolteacher who moves to prince Edward Island as a favor to a friend, and meets a girl who cannot speak. There are a few archaic notions as part of the story. For example, Kilmeny's...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Shala Howell rated it 2 of 5 stars

This showed up for free or nearly so for my Kindle, and I loved Anne of Green Gables as a teenager so I gave it a try. Although I may be remembering the Anne of Green Gables series too fondly, this story didn't live up to what Montgomery was capable of. The love story was predictable, and the language at times degenerated into sentimental tripe. Although distrust of foreigners was part of the times in which she wrote, encountering it so openly in her descriptions of Neil Gordon was disappointing...more

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Jun 16, 2011 Josephine rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like a good clean romance

Shelves: fun-books

I was in the mood for a good clean romance after reading all this heavy duty non-fiction lately and this book was just what I was looking for. It is the first L.M. Montgomery book I have read and her writing style was quite different from what I'm used to. It was jumpy and just cut straight to the point and I kind of liked it. The book was predictable but I still had a smile on my face through most of it. I think I want to read more of her books now.
My favorite line in the book was on page 32:
"I...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I personally loved this book. I don't know why you like to criticize Kilmeny just because she's beautiful, I mean for Lucy that was different because she usually didn't have beautiful main characters. And it wasn't the typical kind of beautiful either. I mean how many girls have jet black hair, deep blue eyes, and fair skin? She's more exotic it's not like she blond haired blue eyed typical beauty. And her personality was beautiful NOT just her looks.
For some reason I didn't like Lucy's imperson...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Val rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

After reading the "Great Canadians" biography, I knew I had to read the L.M. Montgomery books that I had not read before...this is the first. It's shorter than the Anne or Emily books, and the characters are definitely not as well developed. It was a very quick read. I enjoyed it mostly for the familiarity of Montgomery's writing; the story didn't really grab me. I was also somewhat frustrated at Montgomery's dismissal of a male orphan character (she is usually very sympathetic with her orphans)...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Denise rated it 2 of 5 stars

Just okay. Overly dramatic and mostly shallow, not as enjoyable as L.M. Montgomery's other books. It has the same beautiful descriptive writing, though, which makes Prince Edward Island sound like Eden. I just didn't connect with the characters, which might be a side effect of the very short length of the book. But I think it's more a side effect of one-dimensional characters. There's also a touch of era-influenced racism and classism that grated on me. All in all, I think I'll stick with the de...more

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About L.M. Montgomery

Lucy Maud Montgomery was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908.

The author of the famous Canadian novel Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery, was born at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Nov. 30, 1874. She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge Ontario, in 1911 after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911...more

More about L.M. Montgomery...

Books by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)

The Complete Anne of Green Gables Boxed Set (Anne of Green Gables #1-8)

Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables, #2)

Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, #3)

Anne's House of Dreams (Anne of Green Gables, #5)

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“The woods are never solitary--they are full of whispering, beckoning, friendly life. But the sea is a mighty soul, forever moaning of some great, unshareable sorrow, which shuts it up into itself for all eternity.” — 34 people liked it

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