When I heard that William Morrow was planning to publish an Anne of Green Gables Rom-Com retelling called Anne of Manhattan, I immediately started emailing the editor for a manuscript. What started as a simple call-to-action tweet from the editor melded into an amazing story sure to make the hearts of all Anne fans soar. I am so excited to share the final cover and an excerpt of Anne of Manhattan with librarians!
-Lainey
Read a note from the author, Brina Starler, here.
And now, kindreds, we are excited to share an excerpt from Anne of Manhattan:
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August 25, 2009
TODAY I MET THE MOST HORRIBLE BOY ON THE FACE OF THIS PLANET. HE IS NOW MY MORTAL ENEMY AND I WILL BRING HIM DOWN IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO.
Yours furiously forever, Anne
Chapter One
If there was one thing Anne Shirley would stand firm against all arguments, it was that a person could never have too many books. That being said, it was possible she’d taken more than was strictly practical when she packed up her childhood room for her final year in grad school at Redmond College. Her adoptive mother Marilla Cuthbert had tried to persuade her to leave most of the collection in the attic of Green Gables, her home for the last eight years. But picking which books to leave and which ones to take was a Sisyphean task. Every time she thought she’d managed it, a book in the “stay” pile would catch her eye, and then another, and another, and yet another.
The result was having to navigate a maze of cardboard boxes squeezed into every available space whenever she needed something across her new bedroom. The mess was making her eye twitch, disorganized spaces just added unnecessary stress to her life. Everything in its place and all that. One of the downsides to the tiny Hell’s Kitchen apartment she was renting with her best friends Diana Barry and Phillippa Gordon was that it didn’t have much storage. Or any, to be exact. The only solution was to try and convince their landlord to let her build bookshelves that would cover one of the bedroom’s walls. And maybe some in the living room. Perhaps a lone shelf above the toilet. There were a lot of books. But that was a problem for another day, because tonight the roommates were abandoning the never-ending chore of unpacking and going out instead.
It was nice to be back in the city with two of the three girls she loved best in the world.
Phillippa’s family was from Connecticut and she’d been gone for the entire summer, but Diana and Anne were both from Avonlea, a small tourist town in the Hamptons. They’d seen plenty of each other over the last few months, barring the Barry family’s annual two week vacation spent in the south of France. Most of Anne’s time had been split between working in the Green Gables Winery, helping inspect the vines with Marilla’s brother Matthew, or bartending in the tasting room. Perpetually single and not in the least disturbed by it, Matthew had lived up at the family home that shared the property with the winery since well before Anne came to foster there at twelve years old. Walking the fields with the elderly man had been one of her favorite summer activities for years, he’d become a wonderful father figure for her over time, and she wouldn’t give up those afternoons for a hundred trips to Europe.
Although, Anne always missed Diana desperately when she was gone. The stories her friend told when she came home again helped make up for it, since Anne herself had never actually been off the island before college.
Although she’d had a great summer at Green Gables, Anne did appreciate having a wider variety of choices again for an evening out. The sum of Avonlea’s night spots were either pricey restaurants with white tablecloths and a dress code or dive bars that smelled like the fishing docks. The town was a perfect example of the odd mixture of old and new, unimaginable wealth and those struggling to just get by, untouched preservation beaches and the gentrified boutique tourist towns that made up the Hamptons.
Shoving aside a stack of boxes with a grunt, Anne finally managed to get to her closet, clothes being the one thing she had unpacked fully. She pulled out a dress she’d been saving since last spring that she’d found for a steal in a vintage shop not far from her old dorms. Loving the feel of the thin cotton, she dropped it over her head, twisting to slide the metal zipper up one side. It was a pretty thing, blue polka dotted with white, capped sleeves, and a scoop-neck collar. Closely fitted down to her waist, the material flared out in soft folds until it just brushed the tops of her knees. It was shockingly comfortable and the deep blue complimented her pale, freckled skin nicely. But best of all…it had pockets.
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Whether you are a life-long Anne fan or just love a great enemies-to-lovers tale, we can't wait for you to dive into this delightful Rom-Com publishing on June 1, 2021.