The Story of L. M. Montgomery: Author of Anne of Green Gables by Hilda M. Ridley is the first published biography of the Canadian author. This biography of L.M. Montgomery was published in 1956 by The Ryerson Press in Canada and by G.G. Harrap in England. At the time, both publishing houses were reprinting L.M. Montgomery's books, and the biography served as a tie-in to introduce young readers to the author's life and career.
Hilda M. Ridley researched L.M. Montgomery's family history and her life in P.E.I. and Ontario. In preparing the book, she met with many friends and relatives of the late L.M. Montgomery. In her acknowledgments, Ridley thanked Mrs. George Campbell and her son, James Townsend Campbell of Park Hill, P.E.I. for providing her with valuable information and for letting her use “The Alpine Path,” L.M. Montgomery’s sketch of her early life and career, which was published in
Everywoman’s World of Toronto in 1917. Ridley acknowledged L.M Montgomery’s son Chester Cameron Macdonald, Q.C., of Toronto, for providing the photographs used in the book and for sharing information about his mother’s life in Leaskdale, Norval, and Toronto, Ontario.
Hilda M. Ridley went on to thank:
"Mrs. R. E. Mutch, of Charlottetown, P.E.I., lifelong friend of L. M. Montgomery.
Miss Jean Gill, Librarian of the Legislative and Public Library of Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Mrs. Harlan Found, of Charlottetown, P.E.I., whose summer cottage is the house at Clifton, P.E.I., where L. M. Montgomery was born.
Mrs. R. J. Austin, of Kingston, Ont., who nursed Mrs. Ewan Macdonald at Leaskdale Manse when her second son, Stuart, was born.
Mrs. J. A. McClintock and Mrs. Mark Weldon, of Uxbridge, Ont., members of The Hypatia Club, of which Mrs. Ewan Macdonald was for several years the Honorary President.
Mrs. J. E. Mustard, of Uxbridge, Ont., who was a member of the Presbyterian Church at Leaskdale, Ont., when the Rev. Ewan Macdonald was pastor.
Mrs. R. F. Willis, of Uxbridge, a good friend of the Macdonald family.
Mrs. D. C. MacGregor (Marian Keith), who knew L. M. Montgomery well when she lived at Leaskdale, Norval, and Toronto, Ont."
Marian Keith, along with Mabel Burns McKinley, co-authored the book
Courageous Women with L.M. Montgomery in 1934.
Here is the description of the book from its inner jacket:
L.M. Montgomery
A biography by Hilda M. Ridley
Lucy Maud Montgomery was born November 20 [sic; 30], 1874 at Clifton, Prince Edward Island. When she was a year old her mother died and she was brought up by her grandparents at Cavendish, P.E.I. Quite early in life, she began to show signs of literary talent, winning a short story contest sponsored by the Montreal Star at the age of twelve. In 1890, when she was sixteen, she spent a year at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan with her father, who had married again. After returning to the Maritimes and attending Dalhousie University for a winter, she took on a teaching job at Bideford and later at Ellerslie in P.E.I.
When she returned to Cavendish at the age of twenty, she met the Reverend Ewan Macdonald whom she married in 1911. They had two sons. The Macdonalds moved to Ontario and finally to Toronto, where they lived from 1935 to 1942, when L. M. Montgomery (Mrs. Macdonald) died in April of that year.
Mark Twain once called Anne of Green Gables, "the sweetest creation of child life yet written," and its immense popularity even today is proof that many people, like Mark Twain, have fallen under the spell of L.M. Montgomery's talent. In this biography Hilda Ridley offers an intimate retrospective of the life and career of Canada s most widely read author. All of the people and places, so well-known to anyone who has encountered them in the stories, take on another dimension. The delightful and the sad events that shaped the character and writing of Lucy Maud Montgomery are recounted in this story of a young girl growing up to become a world-famous writer.
The book includes the following contents:
Foreword:
By M. M. Mitchell
1. A Writer's Background
2. A Solitary Child
3. Judgement Sunday
4. School Days
5. Comrades
6. Wreck of the
Marco Polo
7. A Visit to Park Corner
8. Prelude to Literary Life
9. Kindred Spirits
10. First Successes
11. At Dalhousie College
12. Stepping Stones to Success
13. Newspaper Woman
14. A First Book Accepted
15. Fame
16. Last Years at Cavendish
17. Marriage and Honeymoon
18. Wife and Mother
19. The Emily Books
20. The Pat Books
21. In Toronto
22. Last Years
ISBN: 92969-6 (The Ryerson Press)
Image credit:
Book cover of
The Story of L. M. Montgomery: Author of Anne of Green Gables.
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Created October 4, 1999. Last
updated March 27, 2025.
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