Emily's Quest by L.M. Montgomery - is a novel and the last of the Emily trilogy by Lucy Maud Montgomery. After finishing Emily Climbs, Montgomery suspended writing Emily's Quest and published The Blue Castle; she resumed writing and published in 1927.
Plot summary
Emily Starr is now seventeen and a high school graduate. The residents of New Moon consider her an adult and allow her much more freedom. Emily and Teddy Kent have been friends since childhood, and as Teddy is about to leave for two years to further his education as an artist, Emily believes that their friendship is blossoming into something more. On his last night at home, they vow to think of each other when they see the star Vega of the Lyre.
During the next two years, Emily grows as a writer and learns to deal with the loneliness of having her closest friends gone (Ilse and Teddy to Montreal, and Perry to Charlottetown), life at New Moon changes. Mr. Carpenter, Emily's most truthful critic and favourite teacher dies (warning Emily, even as he dies to "Beware --- of --- italics."). Her budding career as a writer begins to flourish to the point that the Murray clan finally accept her profession. She becomes closer to Dean Priest, even as she fears he wants love when she only has friendship to give. Worst of all, Emily and Teddy become distant as he focuses on building his career and she hides her feelings behind pride.
Disappointed by her failed romance, Emily throws herself into her work and writes a novel, A Seller of Dreams. Several publishers reject it so she submits it to the opinion of Dean Priest, the only person she feels is capable of giving her an honest opinion, despite his dismissal of her career path. Dean tells her the book is "pretty and flimsy". In her grief, Emily burns the manuscript, and then, crazed by what she has done, she rushes out the door, only to trip over a basket left on the stairs and have her foot pierced through by a pair of scissors.
The injury and subsequent blood poisoning threaten Emily's life, and multiple doctors discuss her death at worst or amputation at best. Dean comforts her through her long recovery and she comes to depend on his companionship. She makes a miraculous recovery but loses her desire to write. At the end of her recovery, aware that Dean loves her, she decides to marry him, deciding that if she cannot have the wild passion of romance she can be content with enduring friendship.
