Atlantic Canada

For our blog, we did Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables – a famous author and a famous book of hers. Mrs. Montgomery was born in a small town in Prince Edward Island called Clifton, November 30th, 1874.
A picture of the young Lucy Maud Montgomery, from Oanag

After her mother died and her father left, Montgomery lived with her grandparents. She attended Prince of Wales College where she earned her teaching license, and later studied literature at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Montgomery taught in a few schools, wrote in papers, but was uninspired to write until she went to reside with her grandparents in PEI. She there wrote her first book, "Anne of Green Gables."

Anne of Green Gables was first published in 1908 and told the story of Anne Shirley, a young orphan who is mistakenly adopted by a family living on Prince Edward Island. While the family is expecting a young male to help them work their farm, they receive Anne, a red-haired, freckled, bright young girl. Anne is very smart and quick in learning both academically and socially in the rural Canadian province. Her life centers on the fictional town of Avonlea, where she continues to grow and enter into adulthood as a local teacher. By the time the book ends, Anne is 16 years old and has found her place within her community.

The popularity of Anne of Green Gables brought Prince Edward Island into the mainstream and painted an idyllic picture of rural Canadian life. The book sold 19,000 copies in its first five months, and proceeded to sell about 50 million copies to this date worldwide. It has also been translated into over a dozen different languages in the world, including Swedish just one year after it was published in 1908. Several tourist sites that were so-called inspirations for the book currently operate on the Island, including Green Gables in Cavendish, located within the Prince Edward Island National Park. Each year over 250,000 people visit the Green Gables site in Cavendish.
This picture was taken by Product from Newfoundland

Many museums in the area display items and information about both the book and the author, L.M. Montgomery, and there are many local tours that highlight places such as the Haunted Woods and Balsam Hollow, both places that are brought up in the book. There is even an annual musical version of the story that is performed annually at the Charlottetown Festival! “Anne of Green Gables – The Musical,” has also been a big hit, as 3.3 million people have seen it worldwide. 2.1 million have seen it in Charlottetown, Canada alone.

Lucy Maud Montgomery later married to Ewan MacDonald, a Presbyterian minister, and gave birth to three sons, one of which died at birth. After writing, “Anne’s House of Dreams,” the sequel to her bestseller, “Anne of Green Gables,” Montgomery wrote another eleven books while living with her family in Ontario. Lucy Maud Montgomery died in 1942 while living in Toronto. She lies in the Cavendish Community Cemetery in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.

Sources used:
"Anne of Green Gables." Wikipedia. 30 Sept. 2007. 1 Oct. 2007 .

"Green Gables." The Official Website of the Government of Prince Edward Island, Canada. The Government of Prince Edward Island. 1 Oct. 2007 .

"Anne of Green Gables-Quick Facts." The Official Website of the Government of Prince Edward Island, Canada. The Government of Prince Edward Island. 1 Oct. 2007 .

"Lucy Maud Montgomery." Wikipedia. 24 Sept. 2007. 1 Oct. 2007 .