Anne Shirley | Red-Haired Girl, Avonlea, Orphan | Britannica
Arts & Culture

Anne Shirley

fictional character
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Print
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Anne Shirley, fictional character, the heroine of Anne of Green Gables (1908) and several subsequent novels for children by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Anne, a red-haired Canadian orphan, is an imaginative, high-spirited girl who speaks her mind. She wants, above all, to find a home with people who will love her. She goes to live with an elderly brother and sister in a house with green gables on a farm on Prince Edward Island. Impulsive and sometimes mischievous, Anne has many misadventures, but she matures in the course of the book and in the end wins a scholarship to college.

Two costumed actors performing a dance onstage. theater, performers. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society
Britannica Quiz
The Literary World (Characters Quiz)

The character also appeared in Anne of Avonlea (1909), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne’s House of Dreams (1917), and Anne of Windy Poplars (1936).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.