Before she had arrived at Green Gables, Anne Shirley had a difficult early life. Orphaned as a baby, she was sent from one foster-home to the next, caring for other people"s children even though she was but a child herself, and escaping from her dark reality through the power of her vivid imagination. Curious, inventive and outspoken, even at a young age, Anne battles to make a life for herself by searching out kindred spirits, finding solace in her books, and dreaming of the day she has a family of her own. Budge Wilson has developed the seeds of L. M. Montgomery"s ideas into a fully realized, beautifully written story.