L. M. Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery, commonly known as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author most famous for her beloved "Anne" series, which began with "Anne of Green Gables." This series tells the story of an imaginative orphan named Anne Shirley, who finds a home with siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert on Prince Edward Island. Montgomery's works often feature strong female protagonists and reflect her own experiences, as she faced challenges in her childhood, including the loss of her mother and a distant relationship with her father.
Despite these hardships, she pursued a career in writing, ultimately publishing over twenty novels, many set in her native Prince Edward Island. Montgomery's literary journey began early when she wrote her first poem at nine, and she continued to write throughout her life, balancing her writing career with family responsibilities. Montgomery married a minister, and her life was marked by both creativity and personal struggles, including her husband's mental health issues. She remained dedicated to her writing until her death at sixty-seven, leaving behind a legacy that resonates with readers for its exploration of sentimentality and the human experience.
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Subject Terms
L. M. Montgomery
Canadian novelist
- Born: November 30, 1874
- Birthplace: Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Canadian Maritime Province (now New London, Prince Edward Island, Canada)
- Died: April 24, 1942
- Place of death: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Biography
Lucy Maude Montgomery—or Maud (without the e), as she affectionately liked to be called—is best known for her eight “Anne” books, beginning with Anne of Green Gables and ending with Anne of Ingleside. The series stars the orphan Anne, who finds a home by getting adopted by a brother and sister, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who farm on Prince Edward Island. Montgomery wrote similar stories with female protagonists, such as Emily in Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily’s Quest; Pat in Pat of Silverbush and Mistress Pat; and Jane in Jane of Lantern Hill, but the Anne series became the most famous and Prince Edward Island the setting for all but one of her twenty-one novels.
It can be argued that Montgomery’s characters were autobiographical. Montgomery was a writer at heart, keeping a journal as a child, and imagining all sorts of characters. She wrote her first poem at nine, sent many off for publication at twelve, and published her first poem in the local paper at fifteen. The story of Anne began as a note in one of her daybooks. Maud sometimes thought of herself as an orphan, and she read books such as Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess (1905) and Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield (1849-1850).
Maud was the only child of Hugh John Montgomery and Clara Woolner Macneill, of upper English and Scottish society. Her mother died of tuberculosis when Maud was only twenty-one months old. Her father left her living with her elderly and stern maternal grandparents, visiting only occasionally until she was ten, when he moved to Canada’s frontiers. Although he was absent for most of her childhood, she adored him. When her father married a twenty-four-year-old woman, Maud was fifteen, and she traveled by train to live with them in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. After only a year, Montgomery returned home to Prince Edward Island.
At sixteen, Montgomery was expected to marry or start a career. Always desiring to be a writer, however, she wanted a college degree. She saved her money, and with some help from her father and grandparents, was able to attend Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, where she excelled and won awards for her writing. She worked as a teacher and journalist and studied further at Dahlhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When her maternal grandmother became ill, Maud moved back to Prince Edward Island to care for her. Maud’s father died suddenly from a flu virus in 1900.
In 1907 Anne of Green Gables was accepted for publication by L. C. Page of Boston, and her career was launched. After her grandmother died, Montgomery married a minister, Ewan MacDonald, in 1911. They pastored several churches in Canada, and in 1912, at age thirty-seven, she gave birth to a son, Chester. In 1914 she suffered the death of her second son, Hugh, who was stillborn with a knot in his umbilical cord. In 1915 a healthy third son, Evan Stuart, was born. When she received royalties from her writings, she hired a maid so she could continue to write. Throughout their marriage her husband suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness, and often Maud took over church duties and cared for him. Still, she made time to write in the margins of her busy life—daily journals, many letters, poems, and more than twenty books. Returning to the popular Anne series just before her death, Maud finished the last Anne book, coming back full circle to her familiar friend.
Accused of writing too much sentimentality, Montgomery might well have answered that life is sentimental. She died at age sixty-seven and was buried, at her request, in the Cavendish graveyard, looking down on the sea from her beloved Prince Edward Island.
Bibliography
Barry, Wendy E., Margaret Ann Doody, and Mary E. Doody Jones, eds. The Annotated “Anne of Green Gables,” by L. M. Montgomery. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Revised text of the novel includes illustrations and hundreds of notes. Essays offer background information on such topics as the geography and settlement of Prince Edward Island.
Bolger, Francis W. P. The Years Before Anne. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus, 1991. This is an account of Montgomery’s life before she established a reputation as a writer.
Bruce, Harry. Maud: The Life of L. M. Montgomery. New York: Bantam Books, 1994. A thorough look at Montgomery’s life and career and the society and culture of her time.
Gammel, Irene. Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Story of L. M. Montgomery and Her Literary Classic. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008. This biography focuses on the five years of Montgomery’s life when she was developing the character of Anne, and examines her inspiration for writing the story. Gammel connects events in Montgomery’s life to those in the novel and creates a fascinating portrait of the author.
Rubio, Mary, and Elizabeth Waterston. Writing a Life: L. M. Montgomery. Toronto: ECW Press, 1995. A look at Montgomery’s work, paying particular attention to her children’s fiction and the secret journal that she began in 1889 and maintained until her death in 1942.