WOYBS Maud’s Trail

It definitely wasn’t the only reason that we visited Prince Edward Island but it was certainly the cause of a few side trips.

Entrance books at The Montgomery Inn

I wanted to pay my respect to Lucy Maud Montgomery and the birthplace of her Anne girl. Which meant I needed to delve into all 8 in the Anne Series. I did that once I had read Maud’s Biography. It gave such good insight into a prolific writer’s inner life. The following houses all influenced her and had starring roles in different stories.

(Clockwise) Maud’s birth house, Campbell’s house (Silverbush), Montgomery house (Ingelside) and Webb house (Green Gables)

Without a doubt the first three are the best of the stories. The characters literally come alive off the page and her incredibly articulate descriptions of the setting and the era are fabulous. In the last few books the characters aren’t as well developed and Anne herself is lost. Sometimes she’s Mother, Mrs. Blythe, Mrs. Dr. Dear or Anne girl and it’s leaves a disjointed feeling to the end.

Maud mentioned in her diaries that she got tired of writing hapoy endings but it was what the public wanted. And here I go in that I wanted it all wrapped up nicely with knowing where Mirella and Mrs. Lynde, Dianna and Davi ended up. There are tiny threads here and there but basically the last book goes on and on (and maybe even two more on’s) about each and every battle of the First World War and somewhat loses the characters. She published the book in 1921 (so would have been written earlier) and it gives a first hand account of how Canadians heard, read and felt about the news of the day and the impact it had on families.

Touring the houses and the museum also gave lots of information about life in that era and how it impacted all of her books. Rural life, the ocean, the forest and how life was lived in those times with a strong sense of community.

Spots of impact all captured in her diaries and her novels

So many words. 21 novels and literally hundreds of short stories published in newspapers and magazines of the time. All written by hand and then typed for submission. She used scraps of paper to write down ideas and snatches of scenes. Her mind must never have been still ever.

Her writing desk that she sat at daily.

No great concluding paragraph seems to be forth coming. Does it happen to other bloggers? I suspect it even happened to Maud, especially given that parts of her life had some serious struggles.

So that concludes my summers readings of many books by L.M. Montgomery. Any one have a favourite Anne book?

Bernie