'Anne with an E' is the perfect escape from the news right now

A means of escape. That's what I — and so many others — have been searching for in the midst of this deeply distressing news cycle.

I found that escape in the form of a charming, uplifting and, at times, moving period drama called Anne with an E, an adaptation of the beloved childhood classic Anne of Green Gables.

Anyone with a well-thumbed copy of the 1908 novel will know instantly the significance of this show's title. "Anne with an 'E' looks much more distinguished," says our eponymous heroine upon arrival at Green Gables, which later becomes her home. Set in turn-of-the-century Canada, the show's setting bears no resemblance to modern day life as we know it — which is what makes this series such an effective way to take a break from politics, our timelines, and the world in general.

Anne is a young orphan who gets dispatched from an orphanage in Nova Scotia to the farm of two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, on Prince Edward Island. The Cuthberts had intended to adopt a boy who could help with the farm, so the arrival of a red-headed, freckle-faced little girl with a fondness for long words comes as quite the surprise — a surprise that Marilla doesn't intend to keep at Green Gables.

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It's touch and go for quite a while as to whether Anne will stay on with the Cuthberts, but Anne pulls her weight around the farm, milking the cows, collecting the eggs first thing, and doing her utmost to prove her worth. After a great deal of toing and froing, Marilla finally relents and decides to raise Anne as a Cuthbert.

But, now that Matthew and Marilla see Anne as their daughter, a new challenge arises: getting the community to accept this "little orphan." She's labelled a "stray dog," "garbage girl," and gets barked at during her inaugural Avonlea picnic, as people discuss whether she'll be raised as the Cuthberts' daughter or "a servant." Things don't get easier when Anne starts going to school, either. There, she sits next to her new best friend, her "kindred spirit" Diana Barry, whose snobby mother won't let her play with Anne. She also finds an academic rival in the shape of Gilbert Blythe, who shares her talent for spelling.

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Despite her struggles to fit in, Anne's sense of self never wavers. She is a bookworm with a thirst for knowledge who loves to write stories in the comfort of a woodland den. She longs for her red hair to turn a different colour, but she soon puts paid to that notion when she inadvertently dyes her hair green and has to chop it all off.

Anne fights for the Avonlea community to accept her just as she is, and in the end, she wins. But, once she finds herself a part of this community, she takes to fighting for what's right.

Anne's is a world where people young and old alike do bad — sometimes terrible — things and get away with them. But a world that is, despite it all, still full of hope and goodness.

Anne with an E is streaming now on Netflix.