Anne Before Greengables - Budge Wilson

A strange fever ravaged the Nova Scotia region and killed many people, including sweet Bertha Shirley and, a few days later, her beloved husband, Walter. The Shirley couple had realized a big dream just three months ago, the birth of Anne Shirley, a little red-haired girl like her father and adored by them. With no relatives to adopt, the poor girl was taken in by the housekeeper, Mrs. Thomas, who turned her into her own maid in a dysfunctional home full of children. Without friends, Anne clung to the only thing she had left from her parents, a china cabinet that Mrs. Thomas had inherited from Bertha Shirley, and used her imagination to keep from going crazy. Thus was born Katie Maurice, her own image in the china cabinet's mirror and her only friend. When tragedy struck the Thomas family, Anne was left homeless again. She was terrified of the word orphanage, but her terror was put to rest when Mrs. Hammund picked her up so that Anne could look after her home and her eight children under five years of age. But Anne's fate was not yet with the Hammonds. Another tragedy struck, and pushed Anne into the dreaded orphanage.