Anne of a Different Island is a book by Virginia Kantra that will be published later this month on January 20, 2026. It is the story of Anne Gallagher who returns home to Mackinac Island after her father’s sudden death. The life Anne built for herself in Chicago has been unraveling both professionally and personally, and she needs time to figure out what she really wants in life.
The book is inspired by the Anne of Green Gables novels by L.M. Montgomery. Readers of Montgomery’s series will recognize echoes of her characters in Kantra’s contemporary novel. Like Anne Shirley, Anne Gallagher experiences her own coming-of-age challenges as she returns to her hometown for the summer. As Anne grieves the loss of her father, she forms new relationships while rebuilding old ones. She tries to make decisions about her career and find her place in the world.
I was fortunate to be able to read an advance copy of the novel courtesy of Penguin Random House and to have the opportunity to ask Virginia Kantra a few questions about her novel.
Here is my interview with Virginia Kantra:
1) What about Anne of Green Gables inspired you to write this modern story about a woman who is similar to Anne Shirley?
Growing up, Anne of Green Gables was one of my go-to, feel-good reads. Not because it introduced me to my first, best book boyfriend, Gilbert Blythe. (Okay, partly because of Gilbert.) But mostly because I saw myself in Anne. She gave me hope—in the words of my Anne—that “a strange girl with a big imagination and a bigger mouth could find her place in the world.” That yearning to belong is something most of us carry into adulthood.
I was also inspired by the way Lucy Maud Montgomery dealt with real-life issues in her books. I set Anne of a Different Island on Mackinac Island, Michigan, because I felt nostalgic setting evoked the charm of Prince Edward Island, and I wanted to use the reassurance of familiar tropes (enemies-to-lovers, first love, small-town romance) as a way to talk about love, anxiety, grief and resilience, about finding your way forward despite the bends in the road.
2) I have run a website on Anne of Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery’s other works for many years, with an emphasis on Montgomery’s lasting legacy. How do you think your novel adds to this legacy?
I wrote Anne of a Different Island for the girls who grew up loving Anne and the readers who need her now. My heroine, Anne Gallagher, is herself an Anne fan in her mid-twenties, what I think of as a contemporary “coming of age,” when you’re figuring out who you are apart from your parents and what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. Revisiting a beloved classic is always a risk, because the emotional stakes are so high. But I hope I captured some of Anne Shirley’s irrepressible spirit—and that the book points readers back to Montgomery’s series, where that magic began.
3) Anne Gallagher is an English teacher with an ability to connect with young people through books. I enjoyed how you incorporated The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Red Sky at Morning, and of course, Anne of Green Gables into your novel. Could you reflect on the relationship between reading and personal growth and the importance of having access to a wide array of books?
I love that you picked up on that! It’s so important to read about characters who are like us, especially when we feel we don’t fit in. When Anne is defending her classroom library in Anne of a Different Island, she says:
“Sometimes books are the only safe place kids have to explore who they are and how they feel. To understand they’re not alone. How would I have navigated my own life without Meg Murray and Anne Shirley, Jo March and Jane Eyre, to offer a road map and point the way?”
Stories help us feel seen. And just as importantly, they help us to recognize others. Reading about characters from different backgrounds, walking in their shoes, seeing through their eyes, expands our understanding and creates empathy. We are all kindred spirits. Books remind us of that.
4) Hailey describes Gilbert Blythe as Anne Gallagher’s “perfect book boyfriend.” Could you talk about how you view Gilbert as a foil and romantic lead?
I’ll put it this way: Years after I first read Little Women, I still wavered between Team Laurie or Team Baehr. But Gilbert Blythe won my heart the minute I met him. He and Anne don’t start off on the right foot. He calls her “Carrots.” She breaks her slate over his head. They have an intense schoolroom rivalry. But Gilbert meets Anne as an intellectual equal, and the way their friendship deepens into love feels natural and right. He respects her. He believes in her. He even gives up his teaching post so she can stay close to Marilla.
Anne Gallagher wants to find her own Gilbert. But one of the things I explore in Anne of a Different Island is the tension between fiction and real life. Anne has a destination in mind, but no clear map. Joe, on the surface, is no Gilbert Blythe—he’s older, rougher, and much less articulate. But the same qualities that make Gilbert the perfect romantic hero make Joe a great partner: his sense of responsibility to his family, his devotion to Anne, and his determination to support her dreams.
5) What aspects of Anne Shirley’s character speak to you, and why do you think she’s so beloved worldwide?
Anne Shirley is an icon for dreamers everywhere. Like most creatives, she’s observant, sensitive, and expressive (sometimes too sensitive and expressive , Marilla might say!). Basically, she’s your average teenager. But she’s also uniquely and perfectly true to herself.
One of my favorite lines from the original Anne of Green Gables is:
“My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.' That's a sentence I read in a book once, and I say it over to comfort myself whenever I'm disappointed in anything."
It’s over-the-top and achingly sincere all at once. But in addition to capturing Anne’s dramatic side, this quote demonstrates how she faces disappointment with humor and resilience. We all need the comfort of books and the escape of imagination. Anne has this amazing ability to find joy in the world. No wonder we love her!
6) What books have helped shape you as a writer?
I started with Andrew Lang’s fairytale collections and then moved on to the children’s classics: The Narnia Chronicles, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle in Time. I’ve reimagined Little Women (Meg and Jo, Beth and Amy) and The Wizard of Oz (The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale). And, of course, Anne of Green Gables.
Those books sank deep roots. They helped form not only what I have to say, but how I say it—the cadence of fairytale.
They taught me that magic is possible, relationships matter, and ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things. Those beliefs are at the heart of my writing and very much at the heart of Anne of a Different Island.
Acknowledgements:
Thank you to Virginia Kantra for answering my questions so thoughtfully, and thank you to Penguin Random House for allowing me to read Anne of a Different Island in advance of its release.
Image Credit:
Book cover of Anne of a Different Island by Virginia Kantra.
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