New Memorial Bench Placed at The Site of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Cavendish Home on World Suicide Prevention Day

Yesterday, a memorial bench was placed at The Site of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Cavendish Home in recognition of World Suicide Prevention Day. You can watch a video of the unveiling at CBC News. Several people are interviewed, including Philip Smith (former chair of the L.M. Montgomery Institute), Julia Ramsay (Canadian Mental Health Association - Prince Edward Island Chapter), and David Macneill of the Lucy Maud Montgomery Homestead Site.

The bench was placed in recognition of those we have lost to suicide, and it provides a place for reflection and healing. It is located under the old apple tree that Montgomery wrote about in her journals and next to the homestead where she grew up. L.M. Montgomery died by suicide at the age of 67. She and her husband both faced mental challenges throughout their lives.

Inscribed on the bench is a quote from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery: "Dear old world, you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you."

It is a fitting memorial at a meaningful location. I hope the bench promotes more openness and communication about suicide.


Image credit:
Screenshot of CBC News Video.

Reference:
Bench at L.M. Montgomery homestead unveiled on World Suicide Prevention Day. (2024, September 10). CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6505973

Created September 11, 2024.
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Anne of the Library-on-the-Hill

Anne of the Library-on-the-Hill is a children's book by Catherine Little and beautifully illustrated by Sae Kimura that was published by Plumleaf Press on August 1, 2024. Set in Toronto after WWI, the book tells the story of a young girl named Anne who loves her local library and books by L.M. Montgomery. Anne grows excited when Montgomery visits her town.

The book is 32 pages long and geared toward children ages 6–10. Catherine Little is a teacher and writer, who lives in Toronto, Ontario. While reading L.M. Montgomery's journals, she learned that Montgomery had once visited her neighborhood in Toronto. This knowledge inspired her to write this book. Sae Kimura is an artist and illustrator who is from Japan and moved to Toronto in 2011.

Here is the book's description from Plumleaf Press:

Growing up in the shadow of the Great War, Anne finds comfort in her neighbourhood library, where she loses herself in books, often imagining herself as part of the story. She particularly loves the books of L.M. Montgomery — and her imagination really takes off when she learns her beloved author is in town.

Image credit:
Cover of Anne of the Library-on-the-Hill by Plumleaf Press.

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Created August 28, 2024.
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Call Me Maud Exhibit

In commemoration of L.M. Montgomery's 150th birthday this year, Kawartha Lakes Economic Development is presenting an exhibit titled "Call Me Maud." The exhibit explores L.M. Montgomery's life and includes information on her surprising connection to Kawartha Lakes.

The exhibit opened on July 23, 2024 and is located on the second floor of the Kawartha Lakes City Hall at 26 Francis Street in Lindsay, Ontario. Visitors can view the exhibit from Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until November 29, 2024. Admission is free of charge.

The Call Me Maud exhibit is based on research by Dr. Christy Woster who wrote an essay called "L.M. Montgomery and the Railway King of Canada" that was published in The Shining Scroll newsletter for the L.M. Montgomery Literary Society in 2005. In her article, Woster described how L.M. Montgomery’s father's second wife Mary Ann McRae was originally from the Kirkfield area in Kawartha Lakes. McRae was the niece of Sir William Mackenzie, the famous Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur from Kirkfield. During the years that Montgomery lived in Ontario, she would often visit the Mackenzie estate, and she wrote about these visits in her journals.

To accompany the Call Me Maud exhibit, Kawartha Lakes Economic Development will present a virtual talk and in-person tea event on August 18, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. with support from the Kirkfield and District Historical Society and Museum. Dr. Emily Woster will give a virtual presentation on L.M. Montgomery's connection to Kirkfield and her time in Ontario. This event will take place at 992 Portage Road in Kirkfield, Ontario at the Kirkfield and District Museum and Historical Society. Refreshments will be served from L.M. Montgomery's personal recipe book. Tickets for the event cost $25.

The Call Me Maud exhibit webpage features four recipes from L.M. Montgomery's original ledger that were passed down through her family to Elaine Crawford and her daughter, Kelly Crawford. You can download PDFs for L.M. Montgomery's recipes for Marion's orange cake, Boston cookies, applesauce cake, and lemon crumbles. These recipes (and many more) were included in Elaine and Kelly Crawford's book Aunt Maud’s Recipe Book: From the Kitchen of L.M. Montgomery.


Official Website:
Call Me Maud Exhibit

Image Credit:
Image from the Call Me Maud Exhibit website.

References:
'Call Me Maud' Lucy Maud Montgomery exhibit comes to Lindsay. (2024, July 24). Kawartha Lakes. Retrieved from: https://www.kawarthalakes.ca/en/news/call-me-maud-lucy-maud-montgomery-exhibit-comes-to-lindsay.aspx.

Head, Bruce. (2024, July 24). New exhibit explores ‘Anne of Green Gables’ author’s connection to Kawartha Lakes. kawarthaNOW. Retrieved from: https://kawarthanow.com/2024/07/24/new-exhibit-explores-anne-of-green-gables-authors-connection-to-kawartha-lakes/.

Created July 30, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery and War

In 2017, L.M. Montgomery and War was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. This book of scholarship examines how war influenced L.M. Montgomery's life and work. It was edited by Andrea McKenzie and Jane Ledwell. The volume contains contributions by Jonathan F. Vance, Irene Gammel, E. Holly Pike, Susan Fisher, Laura M. Robinson, Sarah Glassford, Maureen O. Gallagher, Caroline E. Jones, Andrea McKenzie, and Elizabeth Epperly.

Here is the description of the volume from McGill-Queen’s University Press:

War marked L.M. Montgomery’s personal life and writing. As an eleven-year-old, she experienced the suspense of waiting months for news about her father, who fought during the North-West Resistance of 1885. During the First World War, she actively led women’s war efforts in her community, while suffering anguish at the horrors taking place overseas. Through her novels, Montgomery engages directly with the global conflicts of her time, from the North-West Resistance to the Second World War. Given the influence of her wartime writing on Canada’s cultural memories, L.M. Montgomery and War restores Montgomery to her rightful place as a major war writer.

Reassessing Montgomery’s position in the canon of war literature, contributors to this volume explore three central themes in their essays: her writing in the context of contemporaneous Canadian novelists, artists, and poets; questions about her conceptions of gender identity, war work, and nationalism across enemy lines; and the themes of hurt and healing in her interwar works.

Drawing on new perspectives from war studies, literary studies, historical studies, gender studies, and visual art, L.M. Montgomery and War explores new ways to consider the iconic Canadian writer and her work.

Reviews

“L.M. Montgomery and War is a delight to read. The use of biography, journals, and historical context is admirable. The writing is clear and engaging, always with an eye towards the general readership that Montgomery engages, and the range of issues evoked by a focus on war in Montgomery’s work is truly amazing and illuminating.” Holly Blackford, Rutgers University

“Andrea McKenzie and Jane Ledwell’s edited collection has much to offer anyone interested in how readers remember female authors who do not abide by the cultural scripts defining the topics appropriate to them.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly

The book includes the following essays:

Part One: The Canons of War

1. “Some Great Crisis of Storm and Stress”: L.M. Montgomery, Canadian Literature, and the Great War by Jonathan F. Vance
2. Mapping Patriotic Memory: L.M. Montgomery, Mary Riter Hamilton, and the Great War by Irene Gammel
3. Education for War: Anne of Green Gables and Rilla of Ingleside by E. Holly Pike
4. “Watchman, What of the Night?”: L.M. Montgomery’s Poems of War by Susan Fisher

Part Two: Gendering War

5. L.M. Montgomery’s Great War: The Home as Battleground in Rilla of Ingleside by Laura M. Robinson
6. “I Must Do Something to Help at Home”: Rilla of Ingleside in the Context of Real Women’s War Work by Sarah Glassford
7. Across Enemy Lines: Gender and Nationalism in Else Ury’s and L.M. Montgomery’s Great War Novels by Maureen O. Gallagher

Part Three: Healing or Hurt?
The Aftermath

8. The Shadows of War: Interstitial Grief in L.M. Montgomery’s Final Novels by Caroline E. Jones
9. Women at War? One Hundred Years of Visualizing Rilla by Andrea McKenzie
10. Emily’s Quest: L.M. Montgomery’s Green Alternative to Despair and War? By Elizabeth Epperly


Image credit:
Book cover of L.M. Montgomery and War from McGill-Queen’s University Press.

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Created May 26, 2024.
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The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables

The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables: The Enchanting Island that Inspired L. M. Montgomery is a book by Catherine Reid explores the environment of Prince Edward Island and how L.M. Montgomery used nature as a source of creativity to write Anne of Green Gables. Published in 2018, the book is filled with lush photography, biographical information about L.M. Montgomery, and L.M. Montgomery's own photos and quotes. It was published by Timber Press in Portland, Oregon, which is part of the Hachette Book Group. The book was acclaimed as one of Smithsonian magazine’s Ten Best Books About Travel of 2018.

Here is the book's description from the Hachette Book Group:

The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables explores L. M. Montgomery’s deep connection to the landscapes of Prince Edward Island that inspired her to write the beloved Anne of Green Gables series. From the Lake of Shining Waters and the Haunted Wood to Lover’s Lane, you’ll be immersed in the real places immortalized in the novels.

Using Montgomery’s journals, archives, and scrapbooks, Catherine Reid explores the many similarities between Montgomery and her unforgettable heroine, Anne Shirley. The lush package includes Montgomery’s hand-colorized photographs, the illustrations originally used in Anne of Green Gables, and contemporary and historical photography.

Reviews

“This book will be treasured by Montgomery’s legions of fans.” —Carolyn Strom Collins, author of The Anne of Green Gables Treasury; editor of After Many Years: Twenty-one “Long-Lost” Stories by L. M. Montgomery

“In L. M. Montgomery’s beloved book, Anne of Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, Canada, played a role that is arguably just as important as the series’ protagonist, Anne Shirley. Wanting to bring the island to life years later, author Catherine Reid explores the very places that inspired Montgomery and became immortalized in her prose.” —The Smithsonian Magazine

“There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing gorgeous pictures of sunsets, shores, and gardens alongside snippets of Montgomery’s musical, flowery prose. Reid’s love letter to Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery, and Prince Edward Island is sure to delight. Anne enthusiasts will learn more about what inspired Montgomery, while nature lovers will find a kindred spirit in Reid, who clearly has a passion for all things green and growing.” —Booklist starred review

“This is not just a book filled with beautiful photos; it’s a satisfyingly rich and layered combination of the visual and intellectual. Readers will gain a new appreciation not only for Montgomery but also for the landscape that meant so much to her.” —Library Journal

“Whether you read the Anne saga growing up (particularly popular with young girls) or are brainstorming now for a summer vacation jewel, this new The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables is certain to delight. Author Catherine Reid exuberantly jumped into Montgomery's archives—her journals, scrapbooks, photographs—to create this lush tribute to Montgomery, Green Gables and PEI. It is graced with positive quotes, poems and anecdotes; festooned with fascinating history; dressed in scores of images from yesteryear and today. . . . Reid herself deserves ample applause for this wet-kiss, well-crafted ode to all that makes Prince Edward Island and its most esteemed native resonate with readers and visitors. Oh, Canada!” —Forbes

“For readers looking for a deeper understanding of the book, the author, and how they both came together to create a timeless classic, this is a must-read. Filled with beautiful colour images and original illustrations from the book's 1908 edition, The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables is an easy, enjoyable read, but it is packed with much more fascinating information than your average coffee-table book. . . . readers are prompted to reflect on how the landscapes of their worlds speak to their own internal lives.” —The Cardinal Press

Image credit:
Photograph of The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables by Timber Press.

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Created May 16, 2024.
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Finding Anne on Prince Edward Island

Finding Anne on Prince Edward Island is a guidebook that features locations that inspired L.M. Montgomery to write Anne of Green Gables. The travel guide was published by Ragweed Press as part of their "Island Pathways" series. The book was edited by Kathleen Hamilton and Sibyl Frei. The color photography is by John Sylvester, and the book includes many archival photos from the Prince Edward Island Public Archives.

It's a small spiral bound travel guide. I own a copy of the third printing, which was published in 1998. The guidebook features quotes from L.M. Montgomery's journals and from the Anne of Green Gables novels. The book's introduction states:

"This guidebook is designed for all those who are looking for ANNE and her creator, L.M. Montgomery, and it features the Island locations that you will most want to visit. The chapters are arranged alphabetically by location; each describes a different community on the Island, outlining the places of importance to L.M. Montgomery, and the ANNE attractions to be found there. Entertaining quotations from Anne of Green Gables and the other ANNE books are sprinkled through the chapters."

The contents include the following chapters:

Introduction
Belmont
Bideford
Cavendish
Charlottetown
French River
Hunter River
Kensington
Lower Bedeque
Malpeque
New London
Park Corner
Anne Day Tour
Select Bibliography
Index of Featured Attractions

Each chapter is subdivided into three sections: (1) The Setting, (2) About L.M. Montgomery, and (3) Attractions and Activities. Although so much information is readily available online, I still like to have a guidebook on hand when traveling. I like this one because it is focused on L.M. Montgomery's experiences and perspectives.


Image credit:
Photograph of the Finding Anne on Prince Edward Island book cover by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created May 9, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery and the Magic of Spring

As winter gives way to spring, there is freshness in the air. Sprouts emerge from the cold soil, leaves take form on bare tree limbs, and animals return to activity.

L.M. Montgomery captured this sensation as she wrote in her journal on May 1, 1899 in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island:

"There is a magic about the spring—some power that revives half-dead hopes and faiths and thrills numbed souls with the elixir of new life. There is no age in spring—everybody seems young and joyful. Care is in abeyance for a little while and hearts throb with the instinct for immortality."

In spring, Montgomery feels that everyone is ageless. The return of warmth brings cheer; the sense of revival in nature brings hope.

When Montgomery wrote Anne of Green Gables, she again reflected on the magic of spring, writing:

"Marilla, walking home one late April evening from an Aid meeting, realized that the winter was over and gone with the thrill of delight that spring never fails to bring to the oldest and saddest as well as to the youngest and merriest."

Today, like L.M. Montgomery, I’m glad it’s spring—a season that warms spirits, revives half-dead hopes, and allows us to feel youthful and joyful.


Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

Reference:
Montgomery, L.M. The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900. ed. Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Hillman Waterston. Oxford University Press. 2017.

Created May 2, 2024. Last updated August 21, 2024.
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Five Facts About L.M. Montgomery

It’s L.M. Montgomery’s birthday today. She was born on 147 years ago on November 30, 1874. To celebrate the anniversary of Montgomery’s birth, here are five facts about her:

1. Born Lucy Maud Montgomery, she preferred her middle name “Maud” over her first name.
   
   
2. L.M. Montgomery contracted influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic and was seriously ill with the disease.
   
   
3. During her childhood, L.M. Montgomery had two imaginary friends, Katie Maurice and Lucy Gray, who helped her cope with her loneliness and solitude.
   
   
4. L.M. Montgomery experienced a deep emotional and spiritual connection in nature, which she described as “the flash.”
   
   
5. In 1935, King George V appointed L.M. Montgomery as an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). This British order of chivalry honored her contributions to literature.
   
   

Image credit:
Photograph of L.M. Montgomery, ca. 1935. Library and Archives Canada, Public Domain.

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Created November 30, 2021.
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Who is L.M. Montgomery?

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Canada on November 30, 1874. During her lifetime, L.M. Montgomery wrote 20 novels, over 500 short stories, one book of poetry, an autobiography, a life's worth of journals, approximately 500 poems, and a nonfiction book called Courageous Women. Of her work, L.M. Montgomery is best known for writing the novel Anne of Green Gables and giving the world the beloved literary character Anne Shirley, an imaginative, intelligent, loving, red-haired orphan in search of a home.

Image credit:
Photograph of L.M. Montgomery, 1930. Toronto Public Library from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive, Public Domain.

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Created February 10, 2002. Last updated March 24, 2021.
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Anne of Green Gables: The Original Manuscript

Anne of Green Gables: The Original Manuscript by L.M. Montgomery and edited by Carolyn Strom Collins was released by Nimbus Publishing in July 2019. L.M. Montgomery wrote Anne of Green Gables by hand over the course of eight months. From her handwritten text, Montgomery then typed the novel out. She sent her typed copy to publishers, and held onto her handwritten manuscript for her entire life. The handwritten manuscript is currently housed in the archives at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown. Prince Edward Island.

Carolyn Strom Collins worked with the archivists at the Confederation Centre of the Arts to examine, photograph, and transcribe L.M. Montgomery's original 844-page text. Her book Anne of Green Gables: The Original Manuscript includes her full transcription of L.M. Montgomery's handwritten text along with Montgomery's edits and notes. The book provides insight into Montgomery's writing and creative process. As one example, L.M. Montgomery initially called Diana Barry by the name Laura, and then changed the character's name to Gertrude, before she decided to call her Diana.

In an interview with CBC News, Strom Collins talked about how special the experience was to spend time with Montgomery's text, saying, "It gives you a little chill in a way, a little thrill because you know that was her pride and joy. She touched those pages, she wrote with pen and ink, she dipped the pen in ink every few lines." Anne of Green Gables: The Original Manuscript includes a wonderful introduction by Carolyn Strom Collins that provides a wealth of information about the original manuscript, the first published edition of Anne of Green Gables, and the transcribed text. Carolyn Strom Collins also presents quotes from Montgomery's journals and letters about writing Anne and about her inspiration for the novel.


Here is the description of the book from Nimbus Publishing:

This fascinating book presents the original text of Montgomery’s most famous manuscript, including where the author scribbled notes, made additions and deletions, and other editorial details. L. M. Montgomery scholar Carolyn Strom Collins offers a rare look into Montgomery’s creative process, providing a never-before-published version of the worldwide phenomenon.

This book differs from previous versions of Anne in that it provides a transcription of the text and notes from Montgomery’s original manuscript, and shows how they were integrated to form the full novel. The culmination of years of research, Anne of Green Gables: the Original Manuscript is a necessary addition to any Montgomery lover’s collection. This volume features scans of the first page of each chapter from the original archived document (showing editorial notes in Montgomery’s handwriting) and an appendix of rare foreign-language covers.

Review

“"Here's one for devoted Anne fans and anyone curious about the creative process."
―Halifax Magazine

Image credit:
Book cover of Anne of Green Gables: The Original Manuscript.

Reference:
New book offers fans a look at handwritten manuscript of Anne of Green Gables. (2019, July 30). CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-new-book-looks-at-original-manuscript-of-anne-green-gables-1.5230806

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Created August 25, 2019. Last updated September 3, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1930-1933

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1930–1933 edited by Jen Rubio was published by Rock's Mill Press in 2019. The unabridged editions of L.M. Montgomery's journals paint a fuller, darker picture of her inner thoughts and moods, her passions, and her literary ambitions. In this seventh volume of L.M. Montgomery's complete journals, Montgomery gives a compelling account of painful difficulties, mysterious secrets, and deep disappointments.


Here is the description of the volume from the Rock's Mill Press:

L.M. Montgomery’s journals speak of simple pleasures and deep joy, dogged worries and profound disappointments. The story of her life from 1930 to 1933 is as gripping as the earlier volumes published by Rock’s Mills Press. This volume is different from earlier ones in a surprising way, however: “It has happened. It is too cruel and hideous and unexpected to write about. I have spent two days in hell. I cannot see how I am to go on living. . . . And I have had to keep up a face to the world when something in my soul was bleeding to death” (February 5, 1933). The truth of this “cruel and hideous” event is, for a time, too diffcult to commit to her journals; it casts a shadow of shame on Montgomery’s life for months. When she finally explains, it is page-turning material that gives a fascinating look into the hidden side of life in Ontario almost a century ago. Montgomery also recounts other difficult situations facing her in those years, including attempts to help a slippery young man facing embezzlement charges and a younger woman’s obsessive crush on her. Over 100 of Montgomery’s own photographs are included, many never before published. This edition also includes an introduction, extensive notes, and an index of photography, all original to this edition.

2019
Paperback, 386 pp. ISBN-13: 978-1-77244-175-8

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Book cover of L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1930–1933.

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Created June 1, 2018. Last updated August 23, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922–1925 edited by Jen Rubio was published by Rock's Mill Press in 2018. The unabridged editions of L.M. Montgomery's journals paint a fuller, darker picture of her inner thoughts and moods, her passions, and her literary ambitions. In this fifth volume of L.M. Montgomery's complete journals, Montgomery describes her last four years living in Leaskdale, Ontario.


Here is the description of the volume from the Rock's Mill Press:

L.M. Montgomery's last four years in Leaskdale were marked by a series of unpredictable, and often unmanageable, events. Her account of these events, as they often twisted in increasingly unexpected directions, makes for spellbinding reading. From 1919, Montgomery's life had been troubled by her husband's recurring bouts of mental illness. During the years recounted here, his mood disturbances became profound: "I dare not remain here alone with him if he continues like this," she writes at one particularly low point. Other events added more complications to an already entangled life. A spurious lawsuit brought by a local farmer (claiming an enlarged prostate gland had been caused by a car collision) divided the community; Montgomery's description of the trial, before and after, is riveting. Communities across Ontario were also deeply divided by Church Union, which came to a head in 1925. Her occasional eyebrow-raising comments about members of other denominations remind us that she shared many of the biases of her time. Published now for the first time is the complete record of her life from 1922 to 1925, including the hundreds of photographs that she inserted in the handwritten journals.

Paperback, 468 pp., ISBN-13: 978-1-77244-132-1

Image credit:
Book cover of L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922–1925.

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Created June 1, 2018. Last updated August 23, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s)

L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s) was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in April 2018. This book of scholarship examines L.M. Montgomery's appreciation for nature and her depictions of nature in her writings. It was edited by Rita Bode and Jean Mitchell. The volume contains contributions by Catriona Sandilands, Jennifer H. Litster, Nancy Holmes, Rita Bode, Elizabeth Rollins Epperly, Jean Mitchell, Kate Sutherland, Tara K. Parmiter, Paul Keen, Laura M. Robinson, Lesley D. Clement, and Idette Noomé.

Here is the description of the volume from McGill-Queen’s University Press:

A critical study of L.M. Montgomery’s relationship to the material world and the revealing interconnections between nature and culture.

L.M. Montgomery’s writings are replete with enchanting yet subtle and fluid depictions of nature that convey her intense appreciation for the natural world. At a time of ecological crises, intensifying environmental anxiety, and burgeoning eco-critical perspectives, L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s) repositions the Canadian author’s relationship to nature in terms of current environmental criticism across several disciplines, introducing a fresh approach to her life and work.

Drawing on a wide range of Montgomery’s novels as well as her journals, this collection suggests that socio-ecological relationships encompass ideas of reciprocity, affiliation, autonomy, and the capacity for transformation in both the human and more-than-human worlds, and that these ideas are integral to Montgomery’s vision and her literary legacy. Framed by the twin themes of materiality and interrelationships, essays by scholars of literature, law, animal studies, anthropology, and ecology examine place, embodiment, and difference in Montgomery’s works and embrace the multiplicities embedded in the concept of nature.

Through innovative critical approaches, L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s) opens up conversations about humans’ interactions with nature and the material environment.

Reviews

“An emphasis on humanity’s interrelatedness with nature extends the significance of L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s) past Montgomery studies and Canadian literary and cultural studies to engage with the larger issues of how humans’ interactions with nature shape our daily lives and the future of the planet.” Mary Jeanette Moran, Illinois State University

“This collection is significant for its ability to offer unexpected, highly convincing engagements with L. M. Montgomery’s work and disciplines far beyond the scope of traditional literary studies. It provides new perspectives on Montgomery’s oeuvre, while also extending the definition of environmental study and eco-critical analysis in this field.” Sarah Galletly, James Cook University

"The linked themes of understanding and empathy toward the natural world supply a bridge between the literary and the ecological, between the writer and the places she knew. Matter of Nature(s) is a wonderful opportunity to place one of Canada’s most prolific and well-known authors in a wider environmental history." American Review of Canadian Studies

“[L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s)] successfully offers a broad spectrum of insights on the ways in which Montgomery’s fiction and nonfiction address the conceptof interconnectedness between the human and the nonhuman. Each chapter provides a concise and clear analysis that points readers to new perspectives, and the breadth of the collection overall highlights many new avenues of research that remain to be explored.” International Research for Children’s Literature

The book includes the following content and essays:

Introduction: L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s) by Rita Bode and Jean Mitchell

Part One: Nature’s Places

1. Fire, Fantasy, and Futurity: Queer Ecology Visits Silver Bush by Catriona Sandilands
2. The Scotsman, the Scribe, and the Spyglass: Going Back with L.M. Montgomery to Prince Edward Island by Jennifer H. Litster
3. Romantic Novelist as Naturalist: John Foster and the Bird Woman by Nancy Holmes
4. L.M. Montgomery’s “Indoors and Out”: Imagining an Organic Architecture by Rita Bode

Part Two: Nature’s Embodiments

5. Natural Bridge: L.M. Montgomery and the Architecture of Imaginative Landscapes by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly
6. L.M. Montgomery’s Neurasthenia: Embodied Nature and the Matter of Nerves by Jean Mitchell
7. The Education of Emily: Tempering a Force of Nature through Lessons in Law by Kate Sutherland
8. The Spirit of Inquiry: Nature Study and the Sense of Wonder in L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Books by Tara K. Parmiter

Part Three: Nature’s Otherness

9. “No London street Arabs for me”: The Unnatural Orphan in Anne of Green Gables by Paul Keen
10. Kindred Spirits: Kinship and the Nature of Nature in Anne’s House of Dreams and The Blue Castle by Laura M. Robinson
11. The Empathic Poetic Sensibility: Discerning and Embodying Nature’s Secrets by Lesley D. Clement
12. The Nature of the Beast: Pets and People in L.M. Montgomery’s Fiction by Idette Noomé


Image credit:
Book cover of L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s) from McGill-Queen’s University Press.

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Created May 15, 2018. Last updated June 10, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1926-1929

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1926–1929 edited by Jen Rubio was published by Rock's Mill Press in 2017. The unabridged editions of L.M. Montgomery's journals paint a fuller, darker picture of her inner thoughts and moods, her passions, and her literary ambitions. In this sixth volume of L.M. Montgomery's complete journals, Montgomery describes her move to Norval, Ontario and her thoughts on her own life and writing style in a changing world.


Here is the description of the volume from the Rock's Mill Press:

L.M. Montgomery's relocation in 1926 to Norval, Ontario, a village of striking natural beauty located on the Credit River, furnished her life with a bright new texture. She had lived 15 years in the small farming community of Leaskdale, Ontario, where she experienced her full share of life's highs and lows. Although Montgomery remained busy in Norval, working almost incessantly as an author, mother, and minister's wife, she found that her new home had its own special, and often very pleasing, flavour. Her connection to the "spirit of place" enabled her to record moments of peace and reflection in the "Garden of the Wild Gods," as she described it -- as well as the occasional "bark at the moon." Aware that the world was changing and that her own style of writing was not always sufficiently "edgy," Montgomery's commentary on the transformation of the world around her is infused with characteristic wit and insight ("The mills of the gods grind slowly but they do pulverize," she notes wryly in a journal entry of May 3, 1929). As a social history of a rapidly changing Canada, Montgomery's journals -- presented here complete and unexpurgated for the first time -- offer fascinating insights. Her thoughts on her own life are also illuminating. This new edition includes more than 200 of Montgomery's own photographs, many never before published. Editor Jen Rubio has provided hundreds of annotations, all original to this edition, as well as a new introduction to the volume.

Paperback, 344 pp. ISBN-13: 978-1-77244-080-5

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Book cover of L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1926–1929.

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Created May 30, 2017. Last updated August 23, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1918-1921

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1918–1921 edited by Jen Rubio was published by Rock's Mill Press in 2017. The unabridged editions of L.M. Montgomery's journals paint a fuller, darker picture of her inner thoughts and moods, her passions, and her literary ambitions. This fourth volume of L.M. Montgomery's complete journals features an introduction by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly.


Here is the description of the volume from the Rock's Mill Press:

"This is the journal of a consummate story teller. War, death, madness, fury, despair, sheer grit, laughter, love, and exquisitely realized beauty and joy: all are rendered through the eye and 'I' of an artist for whom her journal was not so much a place as an act of engaging—a companioning of and questioning of herself. I suggest that this volume, covering 1918 to 1921, is one of the most important works in Montgomery’s entire writing career. Here we see her personal world shattered, and we see her consciously remaking it." ---From the Introduction by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

"Have you heard the news?" L.M. Montgomery records asking her husband Ewan as he arrived home on October 6, 1918, “hoping like a child that he hadn’t, so that I would be the first to tell him." World War I would soon end with an armistice. Montgomery’s words reflect the relief felt across the world as the war drew to a close. Her own life, however, did not relax as she might have hoped; rather, a series of unexpected events were about to unfold. Elizabeth Rollins Epperly observes in her introduction that Montgomery’s journals are filled with moments of joy "suspended in a larger, often darker, story." Here we read about Montgomery’s experiences with death, the spirit world, and insanity, among others. Her husband’s mental illness often makes for hair-raising reading. Available here for the first time is the complete record of Montgomery’s life, a spellbinding account of the small and the large, the tragic and the humorous. Over 180 of Montgomery’s own photographs are included, many never before published. In addition to Professor Epperly’s fascinating introduction, this edition contains more than 400 notes providing a wealth of historical and literary background.

Paperback, 396 pp. ISBN-13: 978-1-77244-066-9

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Book cover of L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1918–1921.

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Created May 20, 2017. Last updated August 23, 2024.
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Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery

Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery is a young adult book by Melanie J. Fishbane based on L.M. Montgomery's teenage years. Published by Penguin Teen Canada in April 2017, the book is 400 pages long. It is a work of historical fiction that draws from historical documents about L.M. Montgomery's life and Canadian history.

Here is the book's description from Penguin Teen Canada:

For the first time ever, a young adult novel about the teen years of L.M. Montgomery, the author who brought us ANNE OF GREEN GABLES.

Fourteen-year-old Lucy Maud Montgomery — Maud to her friends — has a dream: to go to college and become a writer, just like her idol, Louisa May Alcott. But living with her grandparents on Prince Edward Island, she worries that this dream will never come true. Her grandfather has strong opinions about a woman’s place in the world, and they do not include spending good money on college. Luckily, she has a teacher to believe in her and good friends to support her, including Nate, the Baptist minister’s stepson and the smartest boy in the class. If only he weren’t a Baptist; her Presbyterian grandparents would never approve. Then again, Maud isn’t sure she wants to settle down with a boy — her dreams of being a writer are much more important.

But life changes for Maud when she goes out West to live with her father and his new wife and daughter. Her new home offers her another chance at love, as well as attending school, but tensions increase as Maud discovers her stepmother’s plans for her, which threaten Maud’s future — and her happiness forever.

Reviews

"Maud will be best appreciated by L.M. Montgomery aficionados, those for whom Anne, Emily, and the journals will never be enough."
—Kerry Clare, Quill & Quire

"[T]here's nothing dated about the relentless lack of understanding and warmth [Maud] experienced in her family life, something Fishbane conveys with aplomb."
—The Toronto Star

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Book cover of Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery.

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Created May 15, 2017. Last updated September 17, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1911-1917

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1911–1917 edited by Jen Rubio was published by Rock's Mill Press in 2016. The unabridged editions of L.M. Montgomery's journals paint a fuller, darker picture of her inner thoughts and moods, her passions, and her literary ambitions. With a preface by Jonathan F. Vance, this third volume of L.M. Montgomery's complete journals describes Montgomery's early married years and the birth of her sons. Montgomery records her thoughts on the Great War, which deeply affected her and informed her storytelling in Rilla of Ingleside (1921).


Here is the description of the volume from the Rock's Mill Press:

The years following L.M. Montgomery’s departure from Prince Edward Island were among the most eventful of her life. She travelled in England and Scotland on her honeymoon; she began her new role of minister’s wife in Leaskdale, Ontario; she gave birth three times; and, in August 1914, she watched Canada go to war. The original publication of Montgomery’s journals in 1987 contained only a selection of her entries. Published now for the first time ever is the full record from 1911 to 1917, a wonderful account of the small and the large, the tragic and the funny. She delights in the birth of her first son. A second baby, however, is stillborn on the eve of war. By the time her third is born, war has become a disquieting reality, with local boys dying overseas. This edition includes all of Montgomery’s original photographs, many of which have never been published. The hundreds of annotations, completely new and exclusive to this edition, incorporate the most up-to-date historical thinking. A new preface by historian Jonathan F. Vance is lively and insightful. Montgomery's record of global war and politics is fascinating; she would draw on it later in writing her novel Rilla of Ingleside, available in an annotated edition from Rock's Mills Press. Another Rock's Mills Press title, Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery Reworks Her Manuscript, reveals how Montgomery crafted and revised her work.

Paperback, 368 pp. ISBN-13: 978-1-77244-022-5

Reviews

"Initiated in 2012, with Rubio and Waterston editing the first two volumes, the production of Montgomery’s Complete Journals now continues under the expert direction of Jen Rubio. (Mary’s daughter)."
-Carole Gerson, Literary Review of Canada (full review)

"Jen Rubio, the editor of L. M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years 1911–1917, leaves no stone unturned in identifying places, people, world events, and, most especially in this volume, the battles of the Great War, the variety of recruiting efforts, and aspects of daily life on the home front during those turbulent years."
-Barbara Carman Garner, Children's Literature Association Quarterly

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Book cover of L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1911–1917.

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Created July 25, 2016. Last updated August 22, 2024.
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Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery's Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside

Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery's Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside edited by Elizabeth Waterston and Kate Waterston was published by Rock's Mill Press on February 25, 2016. The book includes a full transcription of Montgomery's 518-page handwritten original manuscript of the novel as well as the additional 71 pages of “notes” Montgomery composed while writing the story. L.M. Montgomery's handwritten pages were transcribed by Kate Waterston. The book also includes annotations of the text. Examining the manuscript and the finished novel provides insight into L.M. Montgomery's creative process as a writer.

Here is the description of the book from Rock's Mill Press:

L.M. Montgomery began writing Rilla of Ingleside shortly after the end of World War I. Her story of the war was not about soldiers fighting and dying on Flanders Fields, but about Canadians struggling to “keep the home fires burning.” It is a novel that today remains at once both deeply moving and, on occasion, very funny. As she wrote the novel over a period of two years, Montgomery accumulated 518 handwritten pages. Alongside this stack was another 71 pages, titled “Notes.” These notes---literary second thoughts, as it were---added textual flavour, improving the novel’s realism, emotional depth, and humour. Montgomery’s handwritten manuscript of Rilla was acquired by the University of Guelph Archival & Special Collections in 1999. This manuscript has been painstakingly rendered in a readable format by Kate Waterston and is now published as Readying Rilla, with an introduction by Montgomery expert Elizabeth Waterston.

This edition is a surprisingly engrossing read, but offers a different experience than the finished novel provides. Here we sense Montgomery’s own thought processes, and witness the way she carefully refined her novel. The world has changed much since 1921: now books are mostly composed on computer, leaving behind little record of the writer’s creative journey to a final published work. But editing is a key process in creating any great work of fiction, and here is one of the most detailed records of creativity available.

L.M. MONTGOMERY, OBE (1874–1942) wrote 20 books in her lifetime, including Anne of Green Gables (1908), Rilla of Ingleside (1921) and Emily of New Moon (1923). She also kept a series of journals from the age of fifteen to the end of her life.

Reviews

“I love L.M. Montgomery's novel Rilla of Ingleside, and this gives a whole new way of seeing and appreciating it. As always, Elizabeth Waterston's prose is beautiful, and her introduction makes the reader want to dive right in to see what pattern can be intuited from the kinds of changes [Montgomery] made on the manuscript. Altogether a fascinating read.
- Elizabeth R. Epperly, author of The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance

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Book cover of Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery's Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside from Rock's Mill Press.

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Created March 15, 2016. Last updated June 9, 2024.
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Maud of Leaskdale (2011)

Maud of Leaskdale (2011) is a one-woman play by Conrad Boyce about L.M. Montgomery's years living in Leaskdale, Ontario, Canada. Based upon L.M. Montgomery's journals, Maud of Leaskdale is told using Montgomery's own words and is two hours long. Boyce wrote the script by "choosing excerpts from L.M. Montgomery’s journals and shaping the excerpts into a coherent account of her inner and outer life." The play was produced by the Lucy Maud Montgomery Society of Ontario (LMMSO).

Conrad Boyce wrote Maud of Leaskdale with a specific actress in mind to play the title role of Maud—Jennifer Carroll. Happily, Carroll agreed to play the role of Lucy Maud Montgomery. In October 2011, Maud of Leaskdale premiered at the LMMSO International Conference. In the summer of 2012, Carroll performed the play at the Historic Leaskdale Church, where Ewan Macdonald, L.M. Montgomery’s husband, was minister from 1910 to 1926. In 2014, Jennifer Carroll presented the show at the biennial conference held by the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island. Carroll has continued to portray Maud for more than a decade in Leaskdale where the production has been celebrated.

The play is described as follows:

“Experience the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery during her first 15 years in Ontario (1911-1926), when she became a devoted mother, a world-famous author, and the loyal wife of a Presbyterian Minister. It was a time of simple joys and heart-rending tragedy, brought to life through Montgomery’s own powerful words. Compiled and directed by Conrad Boyce.”

Image Credit:
Maud of Leaskdale poster advertising the play from 2024 from DiscoverUxbridge.ca.

References:
Maud of Leaskdale starring Jennifer Carroll. 2024. Discover Uxbridge. Retrieved from: https://discoveruxbridge.ca/events/event/maud-of-leaskdale-starring-jennifer-carroll/.

MacDonald, Shane. (2016, August 17). Uxbridge’s Jennifer Carroll brings Lucy Maud Montgomery to life in Maud of Leaskdale play. DurhamRegion.com. Retrieved from: https://www.durhamregion.com/things-to-do/uxbridge-s-jennifer-carroll-brings-lucy-maud-montgomery-to-life-in-maud-of-leaskdale-play/article_119e01f2-925c-5f8d-ae21-472b41deff89.html

Pratt, Barb. (2021, August 5). Maud of Leaskdale – Ten Years! The Standard. Retrieved from: https://www.thestandardnewspaper.ca/post/maud-of-leaskdale-ten-years


Created July 15, 2014. Last updated October 21, 2024.
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The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1900-1911

The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1900-1911 edited by Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Hillman Waterston was published by the Oxford University Press in 2013. The unabridged editions of L.M. Montgomery's journals paint a fuller, darker picture of her inner thoughts and moods, her passions, and her literary ambitions. This second volume of L.M. Montgomery's complete journals covers her first major literary success in writing Anne of Green Gables in 1908, followed by Anne of Avonlea, Kilmeny of the Orchard, and The Story Girl.


Here is the description of the volume from the Oxford University Press:

L.M. Montgomery (1874-1942) had begun keeping a private journal before she turned fifteen. From 1918 onward, she had carefully copied out her entries. She intended this detailed life record to be published posthumously. Montgomery's long-hidden version of her early life emerged as the bestselling Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volumes I-V, first published in 1985. Twenty-five years ago, it seemed prudent to offer a tightly organized book with a strong central narrative, but this decision meant setting aside many entries on her personal tastes, her effusions over landscape, and her increasing bouts of depression.

L.M. Montgomery's record of her life is published now for the first time without abridgement. The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The P.E.I. Years, 1889-1900 was published in early 2012 to much acclaim. This second book, covering the years 1901 to 1911, continues to provide a more comprehensive portrait of Montgomery's life in PEI than has ever been available before.

This publication covers Montgomery's early adult years, including her work as a newspaper editor in Halifax, Nova Scotia; her publishing career taking flight; the death of her grandmother; and her forthcoming marriage to a local clergyman. It also documents her own reflections on writing, her increasingly problematic mood swings and feelings of isolation, and her changing relationship with the world around her, particularly that of Prince Edward Island.

Available for the first time in paperback, this new edition recreates the format Montgomery herself devised. Over 300 of her photographs, newspaper clippings, postcards, and professional portraits are reproduced, all with Montgomery's original placement and captions.

Review

"The lure of L.M. Montgomery is twofold, the book’s editors suggest, and as pages turn a study emerges of a young Maud Montgomery both exuberant and high-spirited and, at intervals, baffled, gloomy and burdened with despair. It is to her journals that she confides what she later called the “accumulation of woes” she felt shadowed her life, as well as the inspiration she found in nature and in books."
-Nancy Schiefer, The London Free Press (full review)

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Book cover of The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1900–1911.

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Created July 29, 2013. Last updated August 22, 2024.
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