Lisa Ireland

Yes, it absolutely is.

It's one of my favourite books.

It's a book that I still read as an adult.

I read it usually every summer on Boxing Day.

I get it out when the year has finally ended and you have a few hours to do just absolutely nothing.

I get on my couch, put my feet up and have a revisit with Anne.

It's got a particularly sentimental sort of, I've got a particular sentimental attachment to that book because I first read it when I was about eight years old.

I have a really close friend who I'm still friends with to this day, Fiona, and that was the first experience I had of reading a book at the same time as somebody else and sharing that, going to school the next day and saying, oh, are you up to the bit about when Gilbert dips her hair into the inkwell?

And she'd say, oh, no, I haven't got to that bit yet.

Yeah.

Yeah, I've got a lot of fond memories of that book.

Explain the book for people who don't know it.

Anne of Green Gables is essentially a book about an orphan.

It's a book about a young girl who accidentally ends up in the care of two elderly people, a set of siblings, Matthew and Marilla.

What's so endearing about Anne is that she's an imperfect character.

And throughout my life, I think I've been drawn to characters who are relatable, but not perfect.

You know, she's got red hair, which she hates, although, you know, other people find it quite fetching, but she's not in love with it.

and is short-tempered and gets herself into scrapes.

And she's always, you know, she's a good-hearted girl who makes sometimes unusual choices.

So I think she's a very relatable character.