"A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables ... before Anne. Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down, leaving her to bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh. In Avonlea, life holds few options for farm girls. Marilla's one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth "Izzy" Johnson, her mother's sister, who fled Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy is a talented seamstress, which has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world. Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables. With her friend Rachel, she joins the local Ladies Aid Society in helping an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia -- a home for abandoned children that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness -- but Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. Instead she is caught up in the dangerous work of politics and abolition -- jeopardizing all she cherishes. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables."--Jacket flap.