Anne of Green Gables & Lucy Maud Montgomery

A few weeks ago I realized something incredibly embarrassing: I have never read Anne of Green Gables.

And to think I call myself a kid-lit lover! So of course I had to set that right. I’d seen the Puffin in Bloom collection set illustrated by Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co. and with such an appealing cover design I decided to pick up a copy for myself at the library and start reading.

First I will say that this book was a complete and utter delight. I was smiling practically the entire time I was reading it. As soon as Anne jumped into the buggy with Matthew and stared in awe at all the trees of Avonlea and promptly gave names to spots such as the White Way of Delight and the Lake of Shining Waters, I knew I was going to like her. Reading about her trials and tribulations throughout her childhood and young adulthood at Green Gables was surely entertaining and I felt like she was someone I knew. Her ability to put a positive spin on any and all situations was infectious:

“What a splendid say!” said Anne, drawing a long breath. “Isn’t it good to just be alive on a day like this? I pity the people who aren’t born yet for missing it. They may have good days, of course, but they can never have this one. And it’s splendid still to have such a lovely way to go to school by, isn’t it?”

And her character and personality just gleaming, as if she were a real person standing right in front of you:

“Excitement hung around Anne like a garment, shone in her eyes, kindled in every feature. She had come dancing up the lane, like a wind-blown sprite, through the mellow sunshine, and lazy shadows of the August evening.”

Well so of course I was so intrigued by this book that I was dying to know more about one L.M. Montgomery, so I started reading this biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery (goes by Maud) which has been fascinating.

Late 1880s – early 1900s is my dream era so this was already pretty romanticized in my head before reading it and it only intensified tenfold after. So much of Montgomery’s personal life inspired Green Gables, everything from being raised by her grandparents on Prince Edward Island, to becoming a college graduate at a time when this was incredibly rare for women, just like Anne. Better yet seeing the photographs of Prince Edward Island was such a treat! I may have to add Prince Edward Island to my literary travel bucket list 🙂