Top ten fictional mothers

In 2011 the Observer came up with a list of the ten best fictional mothers, including:

Marilla Cuthbert

Anne of Green Gables

When siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert adopt a boy from an orphanage to help out on Green Gables farm, they are not expecting the arrival in Avonlea of red-headed Anne Shirley. At first, Marilla ... doesn’t take to Anne’s incessant chatter and fanciful notions, but she is soon charmed by the girl’s impetuous good nature. Marilla emerges from LM Montgomery’s wonderful books as a devoted adoptive mother, always ready to dispense homespun wisdom and recipes for the perfect plum puff.

Read about the other mothers on the list.

Anne of Green Gables is among BBC.com Culture's three of the best mothers in literature, Bea Davenport's top ten books about hair, and the Observer's ten best fictional mothers.

Marilla's raspberry cordial in Anne of Green Gables is one of Jane Brocket's top ten food scenes in children's literature.

--Marshal Zeringue