With her brothers, childhood friends, and sweetheart all at war, Rilla does her part for the war effort. Before leaving for the war, Kenneth kisses Rilla for the first time and asks Rilla to promise not to kiss anyone else until he returns. Along with worrying about her brothers, Rilla fears for Kenneth Ford. She organizes a Junior Red Cross for young girls at her mother's suggestion when Anne tells her, "We will all have to do a great many things in the months ahead of us that we have never done before, Rilla."Įventually Rilla's brother Walter enlists, although he is afraid of war and death, and her youngest brother Shirley heads to the front when he comes of age. Rilla must adapt and mature to her changing world. As the story opens, World War I begins, and Rilla's eldest brother Jem and childhood friend Jerry enlist. Like most her age, Rilla has not yet gained an awareness of the wider world around her. The novel's protagonist is Anne and Gilbert's youngest daughter Bertha Marilla Blythe, who is known by her nickname "Rilla." Rilla is a fun-loving, fifteen-year-old girl. The novel is rare in that it is the only book about the Canadian World War I home front written contemporaneously from a female perspective. Rilla of Ingleside (1921) is the eighth and final novel in the Anne of Green Gables series.
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