Road to Avonlea (1990-1996)

Road to Avonlea (1990–1996) is a television series produced by Sullivan Entertainment that aired for seven seasons on the CBC. The storylines in Road to Avonlea are based in part on L.M. Montgomery's novels The Story Girl and The Golden Road as well as her short story collections Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea.

Road to Avonlea takes place in the early 20th century in the fictional town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, the home of the Anne of Green Gables novels and Sullivan Entertainment’s Anne of Green Gables miniseries. The series begins when Sara Stanley is sent to live in Avonlea with her mother's family, the Kings, after her father is accused of embezzlement. Sara is a wealthy girl, who is used to life in big city Montreal. She must adjust to new experiences in a small village and her close-knit relatives.

Over the course of the series, its focus expanded from Sara to the rest of the King family and residents of Avonlea. Like other productions by Sullivan Entertainment, Road to Avonlea is humorous, romantic, and heart-warming. Its visually beautiful with a talented cast.

Road to Avonlea was a celebrated television series, winning 15 Gemini Awards and three Emmys. It aired in the United States on the Disney Channel with the title Avonlea. The series concluded after airing 91 episodes. Following the series finale, the Road to Avonlea cast reunited in a 1998 made-for-television film called Happy Christmas, Miss King (also known as An Avonlea Christmas). Set in 1914, the storyline was set during the first World War.

Image credit:
The Road to Avonlea photograph above features (from left to right) the characters Cecily King (Harmony Cramp), Olivia King (Mag Ruffman), Janet King (Lally Cadeau), Felicity King (Gema Zamprogna), Alec King (Cedric Smith), Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley), and Hetty King (Jackie Burroughs). © Sullivan Entertainment

External link:
Road of Avonlea: The Official Website

Purchase and watch all seven seasons of Road to Avonlea:

Created November 23, 2002. Last updated March 12, 2022.
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Further Chronicles of Avonlea

Further Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by L.M. Montgomery that was published in 1920. The title page of the first impression explains that the stories "have to do with many personalities and events in and about Avonlea, the Home of the Heroine of Green Gables."

In his introduction to the 1920 volume, Nathan Haskell Dole writes,

"There is something in these continued Chronicles of Avonlea, like the delicate art which has made 'Cranford' a classic: the characters are so homely and homelike and yet tinged with beautiful romance! You feel that you are made familiar with a real town and its real inhabitants; you learn to love them and sympathize with them. Further Chronicles of Avonlea is a book to read; and to know."

Further Chronicles of Avonlea contains the following 15 stories:

"Aunt Cynthia's Persian Cat"
"The Materializing of Cecil"
"Her Father's Daughter"
"Jane's Baby"
"The Dream-Child"
"The Brother Who Failed"
"The Return of Hester"
"The Little Brown Book of Miss Emily"
"Sara's Way"
"The Son of His Mother"
"The Education of Betty"
"In Her Selfless Mood"
"The Conscience Case of David Bell"
"Only a Common Fellow"
"Tannis of the Flats"

Purchase and read Further Chronicles of Avonlea:

Created March 12, 2002. Last updated April 21, 2021.
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Further Chronicles of Avonlea eTexts and Electronic Books

Where can I read Further Chronicles of Avonlea online?

Below are external links to read L.M. Montgomery's Further Chronicles of Avonlea online. You can also download the ebook as an epub file, plain text file, or book for your Kindle.

Chronicles of Avonlea

Text | HTML | EPUB | Kindle


Image credit:
Further Chronicles of Avonlea cover artwork from the 1987 Bantam edition of the novel.

Created May 1, 2000. Last updated September 16, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Avonlea Album

The Avonlea Album is a book edited by Fiona McHugh that was published by Firefly Books in 1991. The book features stills from Sullivan Entertainment's Road to Avonlea television series. The 72-page book details Sara Stanley's first year in Avonlea. Throughout the book, there are quotations from L.M. Montgomery's The Story Girl, The Golden Road, Chronicles of Avonlea, Further Chronicles of Avonlea, and The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume II.

The preface of the book describes how L.M. Montgomery's writings inspired the television series: "These two books, The Story Girl and The Golden Road form the framework of the family television series, The Road to Avonlea. Additional characters and incidents from two collections of Montgomery's short stories, Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea, lend texture and density to the structure. Thematically and visually, The Road to Avonlea strives to recreate Lucy Maud Montgomery's dream of childhood, that "fair, lost" place "with a spell of eternity woven over it."


Here is the book's description from its back cover:

Avonlea is the maritime community made famous in the story Anne of Green Gables, brought back to television by Sullivan Films in the series "Road to Avonlea," based on the further novels of L.M. Montgomery. This sparkling, episodic series follows the adventures of Sara Stanley, the most enchanting heroine since Anne Shirley.

Image credit:
Scanned book cover of my copy of The Avonlea Album.

Purchase and read The Avonlea Album:


Created December 17, 1999. Last updated September 18, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com