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THE DEFENDER: Mariane McLeod
Mariane is a full-on local, raised on a farm in what used to be Nottawasaga Township and a graduate of Collingwood Collegiate.
She holds a degree in English Literature and Canadian History from the University of Guelph and a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from Fanshawe College in London.
She worked in several small newsrooms in southern Ontario before making a move to Toronto in the early 90s to work at 680News and CHFI, but in 2003 returned to her roots to marry her high school sweetheart. Mariane currently gets up very early each weekday to host the morning show on 97.7 The Beach radio. She lives in Collingwood with the aforementioned sweetheart and their beloved and very spoiled Weimaraner, Etta.
THE BOOK: Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery
Anne’s children were almost grown up, except for pretty, high-spirited Rilla. No one could resist her bright hazel eyes and dazzling smile. Rilla, almost fifteen, can’t think any further ahead than going to her very first dance at the Four Winds lighthouse and getting her first kiss from handsome Kenneth Ford. But undreamed-of challenges await the irrepressible Rilla when the world of Ingleside becomes endangered by a far-off war. Her brothers go off to fight, and Rilla brings home an orphaned newborn in a soup tureen. She is swept into a drama that tests her courage and leaves her changed forever.
This is the final book in the Anne of Green Gables series and draws the focus back onto a single character, Anne and Gilbert’s youngest daughter Bertha Marilla “Rilla” Blythe. It has a more serious tone than some of the earlier books, as it takes place during World War I and the three Blythe boys – Jem, Walter, and Shirley – end up fighting in Europe, but concentrates on Rilla’s life at home. (GoodReads.com)