"It's extremely interesting," Anne told Marilla. "Each girl has to read her story out loud and then we talk it over. We are going to keep them all sacredly and have them to read to our descendants. We each write under a nom-de-plume. Mine is Rosamond Montmorency. All the girls do pretty well. Ruby Gillis is rather sentimental. She puts too much lovemaking into her stories and you know too much is worse than too little. Jane never puts any because she says it makes her feel so silly when she had to read it out loud. Jane's stories are extremely sensible. Then Diana puts too many murders into hers. She says most of the time she doesn't know what to do with the people so she kills them off to get rid of them." - Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 26: "The Story Club Is Formed"
This section really popped out at me during my most recent re-listen to the audio book. I've been convinced for years that Diana's mother is, by far, the most evil person in Avonlea (in all the books and movies)- so now I'm wondering how much of that has warped Diana and we the readers just don't see the worst of it. Did we miss out on scenes of Diana torturing small animals or lighting fires around the island? Is there a more devious reason for why Diana seemed to have such ease in adjusting to being a grown proper lady and wife after being Anne's partner in mischief for so long?
Also: Ruby Gillis, you minx you. Writing smut before anyone knew it would be popular.
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