Maud: The Life of L.M. Montgomery, the creator of the world of Anne of Green Gables

Maud: The Life of L.M. Montgomery, the creator of the world of Anne of Green Gables is a biography by Harry Bruce that was published by Bantam Books in September 1992. Drawing from The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volumes I and II, as well as L.M. Montgomery's autobiography, letters, and other biographical sources, Maud tells the story of L.M. Montgomery's early life. The book chronicles life in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island and Maud's schooldays, home life, romances, and early jobs. Bruce describes young Maud's imagination and aspirations to be a writer, and her success in publishing Anne of Green Gables.

Here is the book's description from its inner cover:

Born November 30, 1874, L.M. Montgomery spent her childhood in a rural farmhouse, like her beloved character Anne of Green Gables. Raised by strict, elderly guardians, she had an early life full of loneliness and struggle; however, Maud had a secret dream: to become a writer.

In fascinating, authentic detail, this biography follows life on turn-of-the-century Prince Edward Island, the setting for nearly all of Maud’s stories. Readers discover the island's haunting beauty and its idiosyncrasies: the Automobile Abolition Society that kept it free of cars; its tiny capital, Charlottetown, where streetlamps went unlit during full moons; and its Scottish inhabitants who feared God, revered hard work, and loved learning.

The town of Cavendish, so much like the Avonlea of the Anne books, is where Maud began writing, at the age of nine. In Cavendish she grew into a vibrant young woman who was so attractive to men that she was pursued and proposed to frequently. Yet Maud Montgomery never wed the one man she truly desired; when she finally did marry, at the age of thirty-five, it was to someone she respected but did not love.

Maud explores the passionate nature and irrepressible imagination of Maud Montgomery that she tried to conceal from those she lived with. Whether teaching in a one-room schoolhouse, becoming one of the first Canadian women journalists, or, finally, trapped in her hometown taking care of her aging grandmother and running the local post office, she was not only the responsible individual who accepted her fate but also a woman of stormy moods and unshakable ambition.

Drawn extensively from L.M. Montgomery’s own journals, this colorful biography vividly portrays a woman ahead of her time, a remarkable author who gave the world a unique character named Anne of Green Gables.


Harry Bruce has written numerous books for which he has received national acclaim in Canada. His most recent book is Down Home.

Reviews

"With a tender and sympathetic eye, Bruce reveals the quiet heroism of the author of Anne of Green Gables and the other Avonlea books. Like her famous heroine, Montgomery (1874-1942) was without parents--her mother died before Montgomery's second birthday, and when she was seven, her father left her in the care of her grandparents. Also like Anne, Montgomery was independent: despite disapproval from her family and the restrictive mores of Victorian-era Canada, she steeled herself at an early age to become a successful writer (she began making daily journal entries when she was nine) and attended college. But Bruce also shows another side of the "revolutionary" woman as someone who had a strong sense of duty to family and friends, and who spent most of her early adult years caring for a stubborn, reclusive grandmother. Bruce's writing is easy and engaging, but his emphasis on the romantic angles of Montgomery's life is a bit tiresome. Overall, though, a well-crafted and solid biography. Ages 12-up."
— Publishers Weekly

"Grade 6-9-- Lucy Maud Montgomery had a bleak childhood growing up in a household where she was little more than tolerated by her two elderly grandparents. The story follows the ups and downs of her life, including her struggles to make a career of writing while fulfilling family obligations. This well-written account covers much of the unpleasantness in her life, along with interesting commentary about the young men attracted to her and, of course, her pursuit of a literary career. Young readers are likely to find such revelations dull, but junior high students may be interested. Eight pages of captioned black-and-white photographs are included."
— Phyllis G. Sidorsky, National Cathedral School, Washington, DC, School Library Journal

Image credit:
Scan of my book cover of Maud: The Life of L.M. Montgomery.

Purchase and read Maud: The Life of L.M. Montgomery:


Created November 15, 1999. Last updated August 31, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Aunt Maud's Recipe Book: From the Kitchen of L.M. Montgomery

Aunt Maud's Recipe Book: From the Kitchen of L.M. Montgomery is a recipe book by L.M. Montgomery, Elaine Crawford, and Kelly Crawford that was published in 1997. The book features a selection of L.M. Montgomery's original recipes from a handwritten ledger that was passed down through her family to her relatives Elaine and Kelly Crawford. Each chapter presents a menu featuring Montgomery's favorite recipes, providing a personal view of the author and the foods she and her family enjoyed. Elaine and Kelly Crawford tested all of the recipes and present Montgomery's original recipe with side notes and annotations to help readers cook them successfully today. Throughout the book, Elaine and Kelly Crawford intersperse biographical information about their aunt, quotes from L.M. Montgomery, as well as personal photographs and family stories.

Here is the book's description from Moulin Publishing:

Famous for her Anne of Green Gables and Emily stories, author Lucy Maud Montgomery is less well known for her love of cooking and her talent in the kitchen. Her original handwritten ledger, treasured in the family for generations, was passed down to Elaine Crawford and her daughter Kelly. Aunt Maud's Recipe Book is a collection of foods that Montgomery served to her family and friends. Elaine and Kelly have selected a wonderful range of family favorites from the original recipe ledger. Included are menus such as "Afternoon Tea at the Manse," "Growing up at Green Gables," and "Down Home Favourites." From hearty dishes such as Pork Mock Duck, Third Try Beef and Roast Goose, to Marion's Orange Cake, Mrs. MacPherson's Ginger Snaps, and L.M. Montgomery's son Stuart favorite, Mock Cherry Pie. Recipes are interlaced with family anecdotes, photographs, and remembrances of Maud throughout her Norval years. Aunt Maud's Recipe Book is a historical journey celebrating Canadian cuisine in the early part of the 20th century.

Image credit:
Cover of Aunt Maud's Recipe Book: From the Kitchen of L.M. Montgomery.

Purchase and read Aunt Maud's Recipe Book: From the Kitchen of L.M. Montgomery:


Created November 1, 1999. Last updated August 27, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and edited by Wendy E. Barry, Margaret Anne Doody, and Mary E. Doody Jones was published by the Oxford University Press in August 1997. This book was the first fully annotated edition of the novel, and it features explanatory notes throughout the text. The volume includes a chronology of L.M. Montgomery's life, a description of the book's publication, and details on the autobiographical connections between L.M. Montgomery and Anne Shirley. In the appendices, the editors reveal the novel's wide-ranging literary and cultural allusions as well as information on the geography and history of Prince Edward Island. In addition, there are in-depth details on the time period in which the novel was set, so modern readers can gain insight to Anne's world.


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

Since its publication in 1908, Anne of Green Gables has been a continuous international best-seller, enjoying successful television adaptations on PBS and The Disney Channel, and captivating children and adults alike with the irresistible charms of its remarkable heroine, Anne Shirley. This wildly imaginative, red-headed chatterbox tries to fit into the narrow confines of Victorian expectations, but her exuberant spirit keeps leaping delightfully beyond the bounds. Indeed, when Maud Montgomery decided to reject the sermonizing formulas of the children's books of her day, she brought to life a character much closer to Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, and Tom Sawyer--also orphans, like Anne--than to the self-sacrificing, conformist heroines then in demand. In doing so, Montgomery subtly questioned the values of her society--the stifling restraints of its religion and most especially its treatment of women--while giving readers all the pleasures of her considerable story-telling gifts.

Now, in this first fully annotated edition of Anne of Green Gables, readers will appreciate more clearly than ever before the scope and depth of this extraordinary novel. Editors Margaret Anne Doody, Mary Doody Jones, and Wendy Barry provide a richly illustrated, completely revised text, along with hundreds of notes describing the real-life characters and settings Anne encounters, the autobiographical connections between Anne and Maud Montgomery, and the book's astonishing range of literary, biblical, and mythological references. Additional essays offer fascinating background information on such topics as the geography and settlement of Prince Edward Island (where Anne takes place); the education, orphanages, music, and literature of Anne's time; and the horticulture, homemade artifacts, and food preparation that are so prevalent in the story. Margaret Anne Doody supplies a comprehensive introduction, which situates the novel in its literary and social contexts, explores those aspects of Montgomery's life most relevant to the story, examines revisions in the manuscripts, and provides an overall sense of both the impulses that drove Montgomery to write Anne of Green Gables and the larger concerns it dramatizes so compellingly. This edition also contains a chronology of Montgomery's life, an extensive bibliography, songs and poems that appear in the text, and a selection of original reviews of the book. This wealth of material enables readers to grasp the marvelous multi-layeredness of the novel and to understand more fully its place in both its own time and in ours.

Elegantly and beautifully designed, with generous illustrations from previous editions, photographs of the places the novel inhabits, and explanatory drawings that reproduce the texture of Anne's world, The Annotated Anne of Green Gables is a major event in the publishing history of one of the world's most charming stories.

Reviews (see additional reviews)

"Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables has reached the status of both children's literary classic and cult phenomenon.... For those unable to visit her home, three serious scholars have annotated the beloved work.... Many period photographs add to the coverage, and the research appears to be so thorough that it seems unlikely that a revised edition of this work will ever be necessary. Those who worship at the feet of the divine Anne Shirley may find that this volume will satisfy all their desires for adulation and information."
-The Horn Book Inc

"There's plenty here for scholars and fans; this edition should not be relegated to the reference shelves."
-Kirkus Reviews

Image credit:
Book cover of The Annotated Anne of Green Gables.

Purchase and read The Annotated Anne of Green Gables:


Created October 15, 1999. Last updated August 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Years Before Anne

The Years Before Anne is a biography by Francis W.P. Bolger about L.M. Montgomery's early career prior to the publication of Anne of Green Gables in 1908. The book was first published in 1974 by The Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation, and it has since been reprinted by Nimbus Publishing. In his preface to the book, Bolger wrote, "The year 1974 marks the centenary of the birth of Lucy Maud Montgomery. This book is written as a humble tribute to the woman who receives and eminently deserves recognition as Prince Edward Island's most famous international personage."

Bolger's book contains a treasure trove of primary source research on L.M. Montgomery's early life and writing career. He includes letters written by L.M. Montgomery to her dear friend Penzie Macneill during the year Montgomery lived with her father in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Bolger also reprints stories and poems saved in L.M. Montgomery's early scrapbooks from the 1890s during her college years that illustrate her ascent up "The Alpine Path." In addition, Bolger draws from a series of letters written by Montgomery to her longtime penpal Ephraim Weber to provide a greater understanding of the author.

Here is the book's description from its back cover:

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) is best known for Anne of Green Gables, first published in 1908, but her literary career was firmly established before this endearing novel brought her international acclaim. Her letters to her friends Penzie Macneill and Ephraim Weber add a rich dimension to her character, while her short stories, serials, and poems illustrate the gradual unfolding of a remarkable talent.

Her family and island life contributed immensely to this literary development. The Montgomerys, who were at the heart of the island's social and political life, provided the subject matter, while her talent for writing came from her mother's family, the Macneills, who produced writers, poets, and satirists. And of growing up surrounded by the pastoral beauty of the countryside and the sparkling waters of the sea, she wrote, "Were it not for those Cavendish years, I do not think Anne of Green Gables would ever have been written."

Francis W. P. Bolger, who teaches history at the University of Prince Edward Island, has compiled an informative and complete picture of the fascinating life and brilliant career of Lucy Maud Montgomery, drawing on her scrapbooks, letters, diaries, photos and conversations with family members.

Image credit:
Scanned book cover of my copy of The Years Before Anne.

Purchase and read The Years Before Anne:


Created October 5, 1999. Last updated September 18, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Blue Castle

L.M. Montgomery wrote The Blue Castle in 1926. It is her only novel fully set outside of her beloved Prince Edward Island and was her first attempt at an adult novel. Set in Muskoka, Ontario, The Blue Castle describes the life of twenty-nine year old Valancy Stirling. Valancy escapes her drab and sorrowful world with imaginary escapes to her Blue Castle in Spain where she is beautiful, charming, admired, and loved—everything her true life lacks.

When diagnosed with a heart ailment, Valancy's complaisance is shattered and she rebels, wanting to "live" for a short time before she dies. She finally breaks from her shell, saying and doing exactly as she pleases. L.M. Montgomery's story of Valancy's revolt against the Stirling clan, her new life, and growing love for the swarthy, unacceptable Barney Snaith is a modern fairy tale.

Purchase and read The Blue Castle:



Created October 5, 1999. Last updated March 31, 2021.
© worldofanneshirley.com

L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture

L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture was edited by Irene Gammel and Elizabeth Rollins Epperly and was published by the University of Toronto Press in June 1999. This volume contains a collection of essays and reflections on L.M. Montgomery's influence on Canadian culture and identity and her place in Canadian literary history. Among other subjects, the articles examine Montgomery's impact on cultural tourism, her role in presenting Canadian culture to a global audience, and her depictions of Canadian womanhood.


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

Despite the enormous popularity of her books, particularly Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery's role in the development of Canada's national culture is not often discussed by literary historians. This is curious as some of Canada's leading writers, including Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, and Jane Urquhart, have acknowledged their indebtedness to Montgomery's fiction.

That scholars have not mined the 'Canadianness' of Montgomery's writing is redressed by this collection. It is the first systematic effort to investigate and explore Montgomery's active engagement with Canadian nationalism and identity, including regionalism, canon formation, and Canadian-American cultural relations. It examines her work in relation to the many dramatic changes of her day, such as the women's movement and the advent of new technologies; and it looks at the national and international consumption of Anne of Green Gables, in the form of both 'high' culture and cultural tourism.

The wide range of contributors represent views from across disciplines and boundaries, including feminist, biographical, psychoanalytical, historical, and cultural approaches. The scholarly reflections are punctuated to great effect by creative pieces, personal reflections, and interviews.

This ground-breaking collection will appeal to all fans of Montgomery's work and to students of Canadian letters. It places Montgomery and her work squarely in the mainstream of Canadian literary history, affirming her importance to our country's cultural development.

Reviews (see additional reviews)

In setting out to prove that a popular writer like Montgomery should be taken seriously as a focal point of Canadian literary history, Gammel and Epperly are singularly successful. The essays are intriguing, informative, and clearly structured, as interesting to the layman as to the scholar.
— Nancy Schiefer, London Free Press, October 23, 1999

Whether she is interpreted as subversive or conservative, this collection leaves no doubt that Montgomery does indeed have a significant place in Canadian culture – whether high, low, or ‘pop' .... It seems fitting, too, that the compilation of literary criticism, personal ‘reflection pieces' and journalism should make a readable collection, likely to be as enjoyable for Montgomery's educated popular audience as it is for her scholarly critics.
— Deirdre Baker, Humanities, 1999

The book includes the following content and essays:

Introduction

L.M. Montgomery and the Shaping of Canadian Culture by Irene Gammel and Elizabeth Epperly

Part 1. Montgomery and Canada: Romancing the Region, Constructing the Nation

Montgomery and Canadian Nationalism
1. 'A Born Canadian': The Bonds of Communal Identity in Anne of Green Gables and A Tangled Web by Laura M. Robinson
2. The End of Canadian Innocence: L.M. Montgomery and the First World War by Owen Dudley Edwards and Jennifer H. Litster

Romance and the Shaping of Canadian Culture
3. 'Dragged at Anne's Chariot Wheels': The Triangle of Author, Publisher, and Fictional Character by Carole Gerson
4. (Re)Producing Canadian Literature: L.M. Montgomery's Emily Novels by E. Holly Pike
5. Reflection Piece—The Poetry of L.M. Montgomery by Elizabeth Waterston

Part 2. Montgomery and Canadian Society: Negotiating Cultural Change

Religion, Education, and Technology
6. L.M. Montgomery: Scottish-Presbyterian Agency in Canadian Culture by Mary Henley Rubio
7. Disciplining Development: L.M. Montgomery and Early Schooling by Irene Gammel and Ann Dutton
8. 'Daisy,' 'Dodgie,' and 'Lady Jane Grey Dort': L.M. Montgomery and the Automobile by Sasha Mullally

Motherhood, Family, and Feminism
9. Knitting Up the World: L.M. Montgomery and Maternal Feminism in Canada by Erika Rothwell
10. The Canadian Family and Female Adolescent Development during the 1930s: Jane of Lantern Hill by Diana Arlene Chlebek
11. Reflection Piece—'I Wrote Two Hours This Morning and Put Up Grape Juice in the Afternoon': The Conflict between Woman and Writer in L.M. Montgomery's Journals by Roberta Buchanan

Part 3. Montgomery and Canadian Iconography: Consuming the Popular

Anne as Cultural Icon
12. The Hard-Won Power of Canadian Womanhood: Reading Anne of Green Gables Today by Frank Davey
13. Anne in Hollywood: The Americanization of a Canadian Icon by Theodore F. Sheckels
14. Reflection Piece—Anne Shirley and the Power of Literacy: Sharon J. Hamilton interviewed by Dianne Hicks Morrow

Montgomery, Canada, and Cultural Tourism
15. Japanese Readings of Anne of Green Gables by Yoshiko Akamatsu
16. Anne of Red Hair: What Do the Japanese See in Anne of Green Gables? by Calvin Trillin
17. Reflection Piece—Revisiting Anne by Margaret Atwood

Epilogue
L.M. Montgomery and the Creation of Prince Edward Island by Deirdre Kessler


Image credit:
Book cover of L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture.

Purchase and read L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture:


Created October 1, 1999. Last updated August 16, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume IV: 1929-1935

The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume IV: 1929–1935 edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston was published by the Oxford University Press in 1998. L.M. Montgomery wrote extensive journals throughout her life, which provide personal insight to the talented author. Volume IV begins when Montgomery is 54 years old. These years of her life are full of personal and professional challenges, including financial and health concerns, as well as moments of happiness.


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

The fourth volume of the immensely successful The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery covers the years from 1929 to 1935, a tumultuous period in the writer's life. By 1929, Montgomery was 54 years old and known world-wide as the author of Anne of Green Gables and many other books, yet this was also a time of numerous setbacks. The stock market crash, a drop in royalties from her many books, the need to provide her two sons with a university education, her husband's modest church salary in arrears, and the fact that many loans she made to friends and family were not repaid, placed Montgomery in the position where she had to type her own manuscripts for the first time since 1910. She also had to face personal crises as her sons' university results were extremely disappointing, her husband suffered a total nervous breakdown, she had concerns over her own mental state, there was further controversy in her husband's parish -- Norval Presbyterian Church -- and Montgomery became the unwilling object of a young woman's declaration of passionate love. Yet this was not a period of joy as well--the volume opens with joyful travels to Prince Edward Island and western Canada and ends with her looking forward with great excitement to a new life in Toronto.

Reviews (see additional reviews)

"The journals, with their vivid account of both daily routines and more significant life events, are written with all the passion, wit and insight into human nature that have made Montgomery's 'books for young people' immortal to her readers."
-Toronto Sun

"Montgomery's interweaving of joy and grief makes her a felt presence on the page....Very few books in recent years have given me the depth of pleasure I've found in these first four volumes of Lucy Maud Montgomery's journals."
-Carol Shields, The Globe and Mail

Image credit:
Book cover of The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume IV: 1929–1935.

Purchase and read The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume IV: 1929–1935:


Created October 1, 1999. Last updated August 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume III: 1921-1929

The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume III: 1921–1929 edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston was published by Oxford University Press in 1992. L.M. Montgomery wrote extensive journals throughout her life, which provide personal insight to the talented author. Volume III covers her years as a successful author, balancing her professional obligations and aspirations with family and personal concerns.


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

In the 1920s, L.M. Montgomery is in mature mid-life, and her personal and professional lives are becoming even more complex. Montgomery juggles the demands of motherhood, parish obligations, indifferent household help, grief at the loss of older friends and family, and appeals by her P.E.I. clan for advice and assistance. There are also triumphs and trials more closely related to her position as a best-selling author: growing fame, the successful launch of her new heroines 'Emily' and 'Marigold', the struggle to allocate time for correspondence with publishers and fans -- and actually to write.

We trace the happy conclusion of her lawsuits against an unscrupulous publisher, and the disappointing outcome of the tempest-in-a-teapot suit arising from a minor automobile accident. There are more personal worries: the Rev. Ewan Macdonald's envy of his wife's publishing and social success; the dark shadow cast by his recurrent attacks of religious melancholia; her concern lest their sons show similar tendencies. This volume of her journals shows Montgomery to be a complex, sensitive, successful and surprisingly contemporary writer.

Reviews (see additional reviews)

"These are journals so enlightening, so full of wisdom, humor, philosophy and tragedy that they are worth a winter's reading and reflection."
-Ottawa Citizen

"Like the first two, it makes for compulsive reading as a document at once personal and brilliantly illuminative of a decade of our social history."
-Literary Review of Canada

"The book, however, is irresistible to anyone who has read Montgomery's fiction....In it, Montgomery comes to life in a way that is only possible in the pages of a journal."
-Toronto Star

Image credit:
Book cover of The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume III: 1921–1929.

Purchase and read The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume III: 1921–1929:


Created October 1, 1999. Last updated August 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com