I found this book to be a great read! Truly one of the epic romances. I enjoyed the Irish background and historical events. Emerald is a rich, full character. I rode the waves of emotion with her. Try it snuggled on the couch one night. You won't be able to put it down.

This is the first story in the series of Road to Avonlea and explains what has happened to Sara when she was a child. When the book starts it explains how Sara's mother died when she was small and how it is Nanny and Papa taking care of her. She must leave Montreal, her "Kingdom" and move to a very natural and untouched town that her Mother grew up in King Edward island. Her Mother is also buried in the King graveyard, that Sara discovers, honors and respects. Sara is not welcomed by her King cousins but realises, in the end that nothing could get between them. This book really is *the* starter of the series

Novelizations of television episodes are basically what we make due with until they come out on videotape. But in "The Journey Begins," the novelization of the first episode of the "Avonlea" series, Dennis Adair & Janet Rosenstock provide some actually depth to this retelling of the tale. Specifically, they get into what young Sara Stanley is thinking when her life is turned upside down. Her father is threatened with financial ruin and Sara is shipped off to her late mother's relatives on Prince Edward Island. Sara arrives in Avonlea with her Nanny Louisa is tow, only to meet up with the formidable King family, headed by the imperious Aunt Hetty, who also happens to be the local school teacher. Adair & Rosenstock take pains to explain the complex dynamic that exists between Sara and her relatives on PEI, undoubtedly filling in some holes for young readers who saw the pilot episode and were not sure what to think about what was going on.

This first volume in "The Road to Avonlea" series is based on the Sullivan Films Production written by Heather Conkie, which, in turn, was adapted from the novels of Lucy Maud Montgomery. "The Story Girl" was Montgomery's favorite novel and its sequel "The Golden Road," along with two collections of short stories known as the Chronicles of Avonlea, are the material from which various episodes are developed.

What becomes fascinating in this first episode is how the premises of "The Story Girl" are redeveloped for this series. In the books Sara would come to visit her King cousins each summer, heading back to Montreal in the fall. However, the situation needed to be altered so Sara was a more permanent part of the Avonlea community. They could have made Sara an orphan, in the grand tradition of Montgomery's most famous literary creations Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, but it is important that at least on some level Sara WANTS to stay on PEI. At the heart is one of Montgomery's strongest themes, how a young girl forges bonds of affection with a spinster. Aunts Hetty and Olivia certainly recall Emily's Aunts Elizabeth and Laura and there are strong echoes of that novel in this story.

Consequently, whether you are a long time reader of Montgomery's works eager to devour new tales using her literary creations, or a young reader who is working their way through these books and then on to the one actually written by Montgomery, you will find these tales to be kindred spirits. I used to have the Disney Channel just so I could watch "Avonlea" and honeymooned last year on PEI, staying at the "White Sands Hotel." So, it is pretty clear that I am just one of countless millions of enraptured fans.

This book (in fact the entire STORY OF CANADA series of which it is part) is the sort of thing that gives historical fiction a bad name. The authors have clearly done only the barest minimum of research, if that. Their picture of British North America during the years 1811-1814 is hope lessly flawed.

Historical figures and events are portrayed with such inaccuracy that they're scarcely recognizable. To name only two examples, Governor Miles Macdonell of Assiniboia is characterized as a down-to-earth frontiersman when in reality he was a pigheaded snob, while the account of the Battle of Queenston Heights is peppered with such errors as General Brock's death being an insignificant, unlamented incident and his aide Lt. Col. Macdonell leading an "'Indian style'" attack against the Americans instead of another frontal assault, and overall, betrays a spectacular misunderstanding on the authors' part of Napoleonic-era warfare (the "absurd formality" they so disparage made perfect sense given the inaccurate muskets that were the main weapon of both British and American infantrymen. These weapons were only effective when tightly-packed formations of soldiers fired volleys at other tightly-packed formations of soldiers).

The authors display an equal ignorance of the society of that time. The characters do not think or act as people of their positions would have. The wife of a wealthy merchant in the Niagara region--whose leading citizens enjoyed a relative ly polished existence even at that early stage--is content to slave away at menial household chores and be a slave to the public in her husband's store. And, despite having run off into the wilderness with a notorious rake when she was only sixteen, she is a highly respected woman. Her son, though a commissioned army officer and supposedly sophisticated, shares her humble tastes and lack of propriety--he eschews servants and luxuries, tells ribald jokes in front of the girl he intends to marry (who would not even have been considered an acceptable wife for one of his standing), and jumps into bed with her BEFORE their wedding.

The authors provide very little information about diet, costume, and other aspects of everyday life, and this information is often incorrect. Charac- ters eat fresh corn-on-the-cob in November. A middle-aged matron wears her hair pulled back in a ponytail, while another female character wears hers down long. A young officer wears neither hat, sash, cravat, nor sword, his "uniform" consisting of "pants", "heavy shirt, jacket, and boots". He and his fellow officers at Fort George are crowded together in a barracks and sleep on the same uncomfortable bunks as are used by their men, instead of having well-appointed private quarters.

WILDFIRES does not even have the saving grace of being an entertaining read. The characters are strictly 2-D, and their impossibly convoluted ad- ventures are interrupted by tedious textbook-style history lessons and related in the lamest of prose.