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 Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars (2017)

L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars is a TV movie adaption of L.M. Montgomery's novel that was produced by Breakthrough Entertainment. It is the sequel to L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. The movie stars Ella Ballentine as Anne Shirley, Sara Botsford as Marilla Cuthbert, and Martin Sheen as Matthew Cuthbert. The adaptation continues the story of thirteen-year-old Anne Shirley who tries to be sensible, but ends up having mishaps.

The 88-minute long film was written and directed by John Kent Harrison and premiered on YTV in Canada on February 20, 2017. The adaptation had several executive producers: Nat Abraham, Ramon Estevez, Joan Lambur, Ira Levy, Kate Macdonald Butler (L.M. Montgomery's granddaughter), Michael McGuigan, and Peter Williamson. Its music was composed by Lawrence Shragge.

The movie is the second in a trilogy, and is preceded by L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and followed by L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables: Fire and Dew.

Here is the film's description:

Anne Shirley is thirteen years old and finds that life in Avonlea is never simple. Torn between her free-spirited nature and her own perceived need to become sensible, Anne finds that the journey toward her goal is fraught with confusion and more than a few unfortunate yet amusing mishaps.

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Poster for L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars. © Breakthrough Entertainment

Reference:
L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars. IMDb. Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6360810/

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Created March 10, 2017. Last updated November 23, 2024.
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Anne of Green Gables Anime Doll by Takara Tomy

On July 31, 2016, Takara Tomy Toys is releasing a limited and exclusive Anne of Green Gables doll based on the 1979 anime series by Nippon Animation. The beautiful anime, also known as Akage no An, was directed by Isao Takahata as part of the World Masterpiece Theater series. The Anne of Green Gables doll was designed to celebrate 40 years of Nippon Animation. Read more about the Takara Tomy Toy release here.

The sweet Anne Shirley doll is part of the "Rikaraizu" series, which faithfully represents anime characters. The Anne of Green Gables doll is approximately 23 cm tall and has two outfits (shown below):


Anne's first outfit is the brown wincey dress she arrived at Green Gables wearing. The second outfit is the beautiful dress with puffed sleeves that Matthew Cuthbert gives Anne for Christmas. The doll can be posed on its own stand, and it comes with a hat, bag, shoes, and other accessories.

Created July 31, 2016. Last updated January 20, 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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L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (2016)

L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables is a TV movie adaption of L.M. Montgomery's novel that was developed and produced by Breakthrough Entertainment. Starring Ella Ballentine as Anne Shirley, Sara Botsford as Marilla Cuthbert, and Martin Sheen as Matthew Cuthbert, the film tells the story of how a young orphan named Anne Shirley finds her home at Green Gables.

The adaptation was filmed in Canada and directed by John Kent Harrison. The screenplay was written by Susan Coyne. The film had several executive producers: Nat Abraham, Ramon Estevez, Joan Lambur, Ira Levy, Kate Macdonald Butler (L.M. Montgomery's granddaughter), Michael McGuigan, and Peter Williamson. The music for the film was composed by Richard Pell and Lawrence Shragge.

The 90-minute long movie aired on YTV in Canada on February 15, 2016. Subsequently, the film was broadcast and distributed in several counties and regions worldwide, including Germany, Australia, Central Europe, the UK, the United States, and Japan.

The movie is the first in a trilogy and is followed by L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars and L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables: Fire and Dew.

Here is the film's description:

It’s 1907 on Canada’s beautiful Prince Edward Island, where brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are hoping to adopt a boy to help on their farm, Green Gables. But instead of a boy, the irrepressible and imaginative Anne Shirley arrives by mistake. Will Anne find a way to stay at Green Gables?

Image credit:
Poster for L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. © Breakthrough Entertainment

Reference:
Anne of Green Gables. IMDb. Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4820224/


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Created March 12, 2016. Last updated November 23, 2024.
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Forty Years of Nippon Animation Exhibition

The Suginami Animation Museum in Tokyo, Japan is holding an exhibition called "Forty Years of Nippon Animation," which features displays on many memorable anime produced by the studio, including Anne of Green Gables (Akage no An). The exhibition opened on January 27, 2016 and will extend through April 17, 2016.

Nippon Animation is the studio responsible for creating the beloved World Masterpiece Theater and Chibi Maruko-chan. In 2015, the studio celebrated its 40th anniversary. The Suginami Animation Museum is celebrating this milestone with an exhibition on the studio's history. The exhibition spotlights the World Masterpiece Theater, the long-running Japanese television anime series based on classic children's stories. These beloved stories included Anne of Green Gables (Akage no An), A Dog of Flanders, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Swiss Family Robinson, Princess Sara (based on A Little Princess), 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, and Rascal the Raccoon.

The exhibition includes a chronology of the World Masterpiece Theater and presentations of clips and episodes from many of the series. Photographs of the real locations in Europe, Canada, and the US where several stories were set are on display. These photographs were used to model the animated settings in the series, including Anne of Green Gables, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Little Princess, and Romeo and the Black Brothers.

The Suginami Animation Museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day (closed on Mondays). The museum is located at 3F Suginami Kaikan, 3-29-5 Kamiogi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 167-0043.

Image credit:
Poster advertising the Forty Years of Nippon Animation Exhibition at the Suginami Animation Museum.

Websites and References:
Suginami Animation Museum
"Forty Years of Nippon Animation" Exhibition at Tokyo Art Beat
Japan Journal, Part 4: Animation Museums in Tokyo: Suginami - A review of the exhibit at Brian Camp's Film and Anime Blog

Created January 30, 2016. Last updated October 3, 2024.
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