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:
Published in 1911, The Story Girl was L.M. Montgomery's favorite
novel. In it, she captures the delight of youth and the joy of storytelling. The novel may have been so dear to her heart because she used it as a showcase for her own childhood experiences and to retell her
personal family folklore and stories.
The Story Girl tells the tale of a group of children in Carlisle,
Prince Edward Island. The narrator of the story, Beverly King, looks back with
his adult eyes on a summer he and his brother Felix spent away from
Toronto on P.E.I. with their relatives while their father was away on business. Bev and Felix spend time with their cousins Dan, Felicity, and Cecily King, as well as Sara Ray, Peter Craig, and the
novel's namesake, Sara Stanley—the "Story Girl."
The children's minor adventures are interwoven with Sara's fearsome, mythological, humorous,
and human tales that mesmerize her young audience. She is the main character,
though, unlike Montgomery's other protagonists, she does not have a driving plot line. It is the narrator Bev, who
directs our attention to Sara's talents and charms throughout the story.
The Story Girl is followed by its sequel The Golden Road.
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.
