Road to Avonlea (1990-1996)

Road to Avonlea (1990–1996) is a television series produced by Sullivan Entertainment that aired for seven seasons on the CBC. The storylines in Road to Avonlea are based in part on L.M. Montgomery's novels The Story Girl and The Golden Road as well as her short story collections Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea.

Road to Avonlea takes place in the early 20th century in the fictional town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, the home of the Anne of Green Gables novels and Sullivan Entertainment’s Anne of Green Gables miniseries. The series begins when Sara Stanley is sent to live in Avonlea with her mother's family, the Kings, after her father is accused of embezzlement. Sara is a wealthy girl, who is used to life in big city Montreal. She must adjust to new experiences in a small village and her close-knit relatives.

Over the course of the series, its focus expanded from Sara to the rest of the King family and residents of Avonlea. Like other productions by Sullivan Entertainment, Road to Avonlea is humorous, romantic, and heart-warming. Its visually beautiful with a talented cast.

Road to Avonlea was a celebrated television series, winning 15 Gemini Awards and three Emmys. It aired in the United States on the Disney Channel with the title Avonlea. The series concluded after airing 91 episodes. Following the series finale, the Road to Avonlea cast reunited in a 1998 made-for-television film called Happy Christmas, Miss King (also known as An Avonlea Christmas). Set in 1914, the storyline was set during the first World War.

Image credit:
The Road to Avonlea photograph above features (from left to right) the characters Cecily King (Harmony Cramp), Olivia King (Mag Ruffman), Janet King (Lally Cadeau), Felicity King (Gema Zamprogna), Alec King (Cedric Smith), Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley), and Hetty King (Jackie Burroughs). © Sullivan Entertainment

External link:
Road of Avonlea: The Official Website

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Created November 23, 2002. Last updated March 12, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Maud's House of Dreams: The Life of Lucy Maud Montgomery

Maud's House of Dreams: The Life of Lucy Maud Montgomery is a biography by Janet Lunn. It was published by Doubleday Canada in 2002. Geared towards young adult readers, this 151-page book tells L.M. Montgomery's life story, using the author's own words and drawing from The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery.

Here is the book's description from Doubleday Canada:

An engaging, highly moving young adult biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the beloved author of Anne of Green Gables, the Emily series, and many more treasured stories. This year, 2002, marks the 60th anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s death.

Maud Montgomery was not yet two years old when she saw her mother for the last time. The journey from that day to the day Maud signed “Lucy Maud Montgomery” at the end of her first published story was long and often painful.

In this compelling portrait of one of Canada’s best-loved writers for young people, another beloved, award-winning young-adult author, Janet Lunn, vividly brings to life the spirit that was Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Lunn shows us Montgomery’s strict and lonely upbringing in rural Prince Edward Island, her eventual marriage to a man she did not love but who was deemed an ideal match, and her hard-won successes after many years of self-doubt and rejection. Throughout her life, Maud never stopped writing her journals and stories.

L.M. Montgomery is undoubtedly Canada’s most famous author. Today, sixty years after her death her books have been translated into nearly every language, and dozens of plays, musical plays, films and made-for-television series of her works have been produced. In 1975, a Canadian Anne of Green Gables postage stamp was issued, and in Japan, where her stories are hugely popular, there are two Anne theme parks. At the end of 1999, when lists of the last century’s favourite writers were being compiled, the name Lucy Maud Montgomery led all others.

Review

"Reading Janet Lunn’s new biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery, it’s often easy to forget that this is in fact the life of Montgomery, not one of her famous fictional creations."
— Kenneth Oppel, Quill & Quire

Image credit:
Book cover of Maud's House of Dreams: The Life of Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Purchase and read Maud's House of Dreams: The Life of Lucy Maud Montgomery:


Created November 8, 2002. Last updated September 12, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com