The Road to Yesterday

The Road to Yesterday book cover

Today, I finally read The Road to Yesterday. This was the last book written by L. M. Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables, partially finished at the time of her death. It was a collection of short stories set during and after the Blythe children’s growing years at Ingleside. The Blythes (and Susan Baker) make cameo appearances in almost all the stories, but the stories themselves usually feature protagonists from the villagers around Glen St. Mary.

You know, it’s been so long since I’ve read L.M. Montgomery’s tales that they feel like a fresh balm upon my soul. Without realising it, I’ve become jaded and twisted by the media that I’ve been consuming lately. And when I read this book, I was transported back to a place of healing for my soul – where Beauty and Poetry still deserved to be praised, where people had ideals and Christian values weren’t some funny religious practices, but infused the very life of the people who strived to live by them.

That isn’t to say that all the stories here are feel-good. Most definitely not. But still… there is a sense of gentleness, and innocence, and quiet humor even in the harshest of stories that portray the life of a country village in Prince Edward Island, Canada. For someone who’s lived most of his life in an urban, fast-paced, postmodern society, it’s important to be reminded every now and then that a different life is possible. And although people are people everywhere, one can still choose to live in the fear of God, the fellowship of man, and the faith in a life of love and beauty.