Room after room,
I hunt the house through
We inhabit together.
Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her,

Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle
But Gregory's wood and one bare hill

A recent article in the Huffington Post reminded me of the satisfaction someone can receive by reading a series of books in one fell swoop.  Columnist Dave Astor used the recent release of the final Harry Potter film to prove his point.  He writes:

Just past dawn, the sun stands
with its heavy red head
in a black stanchion of trees,
waiting for someone to come

Fashion’s newest trendsetter, Kate Middleton, highlighted her nautical tastes for all the world to see during her recent trip to Canada’s maritime province, Prince Edward Island.

Luckily for us, L.M. Montgomery actually took the time to pose in her wedding trousseau for the camera.  Here is a selection of these photos and their descriptions, taken from The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album.  As we recently reported, recreations of these dresses will be on display at both Green Gables Heritage Place and Maud’s Leaskdale parsonage this summer, in honor of the author’s 100th wedding anniversary.

Fans of L.M. Montgomery have a special anniversary to note: July 5th marked the 100th anniversary of her wedding to Ewan Macdonald.  The couple were married in the living room of Park Corner, the house that inspired many of Maud’s stories, on Prince Edward Island.

We recently brought you a detailed description of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s trip to Prince Edward Island.  But here is a selection of photos from the day that help paint an exciting picture of what the Royal couple experienced during their stay on Anne’s Island.

It is a rare circumstance when an aspiring writer can receive in-depth and continuous feedback about his work from a famous poet.  But this was the case for Franz Kappus, a 19-year-old student at the Military Academy of Vienna who wrote to the great German lyric poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, after learning that the writer attended the same college as him. He received the most thoughtful observations about life and the art of writing in return.

"I am not now to learn that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour..." ~ Mr. Collins, Pride and Prejudice

Though the two authors were separated by time and space, reading L.M. Montgomery’s journals is often like reading a page out of Jane Austen’s novels.

my sweet old etcetera
aunt lucy during the recent

war could and what
is more did tell you just
what everybody was fighting

“Well, if you want my opinion, Miss Shirley, I'd write about places I knew something of and people that spoke everyday English. Instead of these silly schoolgirl romances.” ~ Gilbert Blythe

“The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, and familiar things new.”  This is the opinion of a man who is said to be the “most distinguished man of letters” in English history: Samuel Johnson.

“Montgomery's view of P.E.I. is inescapable.” ~ Dr. Elizabeth Epperly

The very first student to register at the University of Prince Edward Island, Dr. Elizabeth Epperly, completely understands why Kate Middleton, the new Duchess of Cambridge, would make a special point of journeying to the island.  Back in 1969, Epperly herself moved all the way from Virginia to the P.E.I. because of her love of Anne.

Those looking to do something fun in Toronto for the May Long Weekend may be interested in a special sightseeing tour dedicated to L.M. Montgomery's old haunts in the Swansea neighbourhood of the city.

Sometimes the less traditional flowers are the ones that can make the greatest impact on your dining or living room table.  Branches of Apple Blossoms, a staple of Prince Edward Island, would make a beautiful Spring centerpiece.   In Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley decorates Marilla’s dinner table with a jugful of them, saying,

L.M. Montgomery was only one year and nine months old when her mother, pictured here, died of tuberculosis.  Maud shared the same fate as her character, Anne Shirley. Yet, as seen by the poem below, she was able to write so beautifully about the relationship between mother and child even without having consciously experienced it.

Oprah Winfrey once said, “Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother”.  Yesterday, we took a look at how Anne Shirley yearned to be loved by a mother in the days before coming to Green Gables.  Today, here’s a glimpse of what it meant to Marilla to finally give the love of a mother to another – an experience she never thought she’d have.

Becoming an orphan at only three months old, you would think Anne Shirley has a very limited sense of what it means to be nurtured and loved by one’s own mother.  But her deep perception of what a gift it is to be accepted into a home and cared for as though she were the rightful child of two adults, is clearly shown in these three beautiful excerpts from L.M. Montgomery’s work.

No one usually equates Anne Shirley with controversy, but this year’s production of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical for the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown has had its fair share over the past few months.  And it all comes down to the fact that the musical is undergoing its first major changes since the 1970’s.

“Married life has its ups and downs, of course.  You mustn’t expect that everything will always go smoothly. But I can assure you, Anne, that it’s a happy life, when you’re married to the right man.” – Diana Barry, Anne’s House of Dreams

Here are three amusing and beautiful excerpts from Anne’s House of Dreams during the days leading up to Anne Shirley’s wedding to Gilbert Blythe.

There have been many stories of celebrities wanting to dye their hair red because of Anne Shirley or female readers who think that Anne is their true kindred spirit and just like them.  But it is always interesting when successful authors reveal that it was Anne who first gave them the “reading bug”.  What is it about the novel that makes young girls want to keep reading….and reading?

John Ruskin, a famous social thinker of the 19th century, once said that if a person told him what they liked, he could tell them what they were.  Twenty years after Ruskin’s death his words still lived on in the mind of Anne of Green Gables author L.M. Montgomery.  One cold winter day in 1920, she sat down to record all the things she liked in her life and see whether her preferences amounted to a single description of what she is.  This is what she wrote:

Come, come, my love, the bush is growing.
The linnet sings the tune again
He sung when thou with garments flowing
Went talking with me down the lane.

Finding out what famous authors think about Anne of Green Gables adds an interesting element to the discussion of what makes L.M. Montgomery's works so popular.  This March on sullivanmovies.com, Sullivan Insiders can access an in-depth article that takes a look at two famous Canadian authors who discuss why Anne of Green Gables is so unforgettable.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

Including Marilla Cuthbert in our Ultimate Classical Heroine Contest on Facebook may not seem an obvious choice to those unfamiliar with the story of Anne.  And even for those who love the series of books and movies, her popularity – as evident in her being one the top four women – may come as a pleasant surprise.  Placed beside such heroines as Scarlett O’Hara, Jane Eyre or Charlotte Gray, Marilla’s life may seem common and subdued.

“My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female, intending to plague you, but as a rational creature, speaking the truth from her heart."

Whether she is refusing the marriage proposal of Mr. Darcy, enduring the embarrassment of her sisters and mother, or standing up to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Elizabeth Bennet would never feel right unless she stood up for herself, even in the face of whatever repercussions may follow.

If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!

Katie Scarlett O’Hara is one of the most complex anti-heroines written in the 20th century.  Her decisions in life are often frustrating and self-centered, but she is a person to be admired for reasons other than her beauty, wit and magnetism.  Though she is conceited, spoiled and often seems to be hard-hearted, it is Scarlett’s determination to restore her family and home, no matter the cost, that is truly inspiring.

It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage.

Emma Woodhouse is perhaps the most comical of Jane Austen’s heroines – though she doesn’t always mean to be.  The daughter of a wealthy gentleman, Emma is born into a privileged life unknown to some of her female counterparts in Austen’s other novels.  Her matchmaking abilities (the abilities she believes she possesses) are put to the test in her honest, though misguided, effort to see her friends happy.

Amidst the series of unending trials that befall the lead protagonist of Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece Jane Eyre, including living under the roof of her cruel relatives and surviving a hopeless upbringing at an impoverished orphanage, readers can pinpoint the exact moment Jane becomes a heroine: the instance in which she refuses to be with the man she loves.

“Sense will always have attractions for me.” – Elinor Dashwood

Viewed in comparison to her impassioned younger sister, Marianne, Elinor Dashwood appears reserved, calm and logical.  But these qualities should certainly not equate the heroine of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensbility with coldness or lack of emotion.  In fact, Elinor is endowed with as much feeling as her sister.  It is in the way she is able to control it that makes her heroic.

“Jo – such a small name, for such a person.”

Friedrich Bhaer’s quote above about the woman he loves represents one of the reasons why Jo March from Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel, Little Women, is also beloved by women.  Born into a family of four girls, with tomboy desires and an open temperament, Jo isn’t exactly equipped with the ladylike qualities or ambitions that were expected of women in her time.

As part of Sullivan Entertainment’s Ultimate Classic Heroine Contest on our official Facebook pages (Anne of Green Gables, Road to Avonlea, Wind at My Back and Sullivan Entertainment), we are celebrating some of the most famous female characters in literature and film.  Each day, we’ll post a profile on one of these inspirational women, starting with Alice in Wonderland.

We recently discussed a new book about the heroines of literature and how each of them can enlighten readers about achieving/enhancing certain virtues or “states of being” in life, even though they were written long ago.

In continuation of our Valentine’s Day series on the suitors of author L.M. Montgomery, we fall upon one who is reminiscent of Mr. Phillips in Anne of Green Gables…

For those who have not read the series of Anne novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but have enjoyed Kevin Sullivan’s adaptations, here is a scene from the novel that shows just how closely Sullivan’s film matched Maud’s vivid description:

L.M. Montgomery was the recipient of a school chum's crush when she was about 15 or 16 years old.  Nate Lockhart, one of her good friends and playmates, often hung around Maud and her cousin Amanda.  Maud preferred him to any of the other boys at the Cavendish one-room school because of his intellect and their shared love for reading.

Yesterday we brought you news of L.M. Montgomery’s own record of her “love affairs” and her mission to create a complete account for her grandchildren of all the men who made an impression on her.  In the lead up to Valentine's Day we will provide segments of Maud’s journals as well as historical information about her “suitors”, which will no doubt give readers a better idea of the woman who created Anne Shirley – whose own ideas of romance are a constant source of amusement and beauty in the books and movies made about her.

At the beginning of 1917, when L.M. Montgomery was 43, she recorded in her journal an amusing idea to write a complete record of all her “love affairs” - a record of all the men that made an impression on her before her marriage.  She was prompted to do so when she submitted an essay about her career called “The Alpine Path” to Everywoman’s World.

Readers of Rilla of Ingleside are impressed with the novel’s moving portrayal of the way a young woman handled the catastrophic events of the First World War on the homefront.  But they might also be impressed to learn that the novel is even more than a personal commentary on the war by Lucy Maud Montgomery.  It has been accepted by modern historians as a proper and useful tool in classroom lessons about World War One. And this is why.

Anne Blythe is not just Anne Shirley’s married name in the Anne series, but also a new fictional character in Toronto writer Catherine McKenzie’s latest novel, Arranged.  McKenzie’s novel places her protagonist in a very rare situation – an arranged marriage that she herself paid for.

Holding your own Lucy Maud Montgomery reading challenge seems to be a popular past-time across a wide scope of literary blogs.  I just stumbled across the blog “Reading to Know”, for example, and its author has challenged herself to read quite a substantial number of Montgomery-related books.

“A cold bath may be unpleasant to get into but after the first plunge you don’t mind it. So it is with a return to work after holidays. You shut your eyes, take a resolute header, and find yourself quite reconciled to it.”

An excerpt from L.M. Montgomery’s journal, written on New Year's Eve in 1891:

“This old year did not slip away in a green twilight and a pinky-yellow sunset.  Instead, it is going out in a wild white bluster and blow.  It doesn’t seem possible that another year has gone.

All avid Anne readers should take a second look at the copies of the novels they have on their bookshelves.  An old printing of Anne of Green Gables is going on auction at Sotheby’s in New York tomorrow.  And it’s expected to garner tens of thousands of dollars.

If you’re looking for special children’s gifts this Christmas that are both educational and fun, take a look at Shop At Sullivan’s brand new Anne of Green Gables animated books.  There are currently four books available – two in chapter book format and two that are perfect for young learners.  This week at Shop At Sullivan, if you buy the Anne: Animated Trilogy Box Set, you will receive a free copy of Anne and The Bully!

On this day, 136 years ago, Lucy Maud Montgomery was born.  And the legacy of her life is hard to put into words.  Today, we already have had people thanking Maud on our official Facebook fan page for what she has given them.  Without her, Anne Shirley would never have been born, nor the entire community of appreciative readers and viewers who truly love what the talented writer created.

There is no doubt that even as an adult Lucy Maud Montgomery keenly remembered the foolish and exaggerated feelings of childhood.  That is why her books about children seem to ring so true.  Even in 1907, when the famous author was 33 years old, she could still expertly identify the eerie thrill that comes with walking through a dark wood at dusk.

In Rilla of Ingleside, the final book in the Anne series of novels, the character of Walter Blythe writes home from a World War One battlefield in France to his younger sister, Rilla:

It is a well known fact that Anne of Green Gables plays a tremendous role in Japanese culture.  Thousands of Japanese visitors come to see the actual farmhouse in Cavendish, P.E.I every year, while countless couples request to be married in this true “Anne” atmosphere.  It should therefore come as no surprise that they have replicated the famous house in their own home country.  But there’s not just one Green Gables in Japan – there are several.

“Katie, I'm glad we have each other. It's so difficult finding a kindred spirit these days.”

Before Anne Shirley met Diana Barry, her first real bosom friend, she had to make due with her window friend, Katie Maurice.  Appearing in the reflection of any mirror or window, Katie was the only one Anne could turn to while living with the Hammonds and then at the asylum before finding solace at Green Gables.

“What a small big world it is!” – L.M. Montgomery

Considering how widespread Anne of Green Gables has become throughout the last century – now being a staple in the homes of people across the world, from Japan to Scotland to New Mexico – it seems somewhat amusing that Lucy Maud Montgomery should have been surprised when, two years after the publication of Anne, a fan letter from Australia arrived on her doorstep.

When researching the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, including her journals, photos and letters, it never really dawned on me that a man was behind many of the texts that have been compiled about her – let alone a priest.

Anne of Green Gables is categorized as a children’s book.  But is it really?  Though readers are introduced to Anne when she is a young girl and travel along from her perspective, the demographic of Anne’s readers is all over the map - from elderly grandmothers, to parents, to young adults.

Though in many ways Lucy Maud Montgomery had a singular mind – her view of the world often differing from the women she kept company with – her own personal desire for a beautiful “house of dreams” in which to raise her children is a universal dream held by most women.  And she gave that same vision to her heroine, Anne Shirley, in the fifth novel of her series, Anne’s House of Dreams.

Ever wonder what you would say to your favourite book or character if you had the chance?  Would you tell it exactly why you cherish the book or ask the character for advice?  This is exactly the opportunity that the founders of “The Dead Letter Office” are giving their readers.

It is often taken for granted that, when writing a series of novels based on a title character, the author has written that series in chronological order.  Not so, for Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Many authors of fiction are lucky in that they can inhabit two worlds at the same time – the literary world they’ve created for their characters and the real world that is shaped by real events and real people.  Sometimes, no world is more ideal than the other.  And the line of escape from either becomes very blurred.

To be able to write so passionately about a subject, and have the reader believe whole-heartedly in your sincerity, was a great gift of L.M. Montgomery’s.  Nowadays, people sometimes mistake flowery or extreme statements to be a sign of false emotion or exaggeration.  But to Montgomery, nothing could be further from the truth.

Ireland’s famous Blarney Castle is believed to hold a very special power, desired by anyone wising to have a way with words.  All who kiss a special segment of a bluestone set into its battlements are supposed to receive “the gift of the gab” – meaning eloquence of speech, or the power to skillfully flatter someone.  In order to kiss the stone, which was set into one of the castle’s towers in 1446, visitors must lean backwards over the castle’s parapet (with the support of an assistant and two handy rails on either side of the desired kissing spot).

There are countless literary references to be found in the works of L.M Montgomery. And some of them involve the most intriguing and scandalous episodes in our history.

The source of Anne’s desperate dream to one day obtain that elusive dress with “puffed” sleeves can be traced directly back to L.M. Montgomery’s personal life.  As a young girl, the object of Montgomery’s desire wasn’t dresses, but bangs!  Here is her humorous account of the steps she took to get them.

The reviews and discussions surrounding the modern day adaptations of Anne are often at the forefront of our minds.  We sometimes forget the time in which the story of Anne of Green Gables was still unknown to many.  Here is a look at some of the earliest reviews of the novel, just after it was first published, from some of the most prominent newspapers in Canada and the United States.

Readers of Anne of Green Gables have appreciated, for decades, the series’ emphasis on the most beautiful characteristics of life in P.E.I.  And some have claimed that a few of Montgomery’s characters were based on living people.  But in her journal, Montgomery vehemently stated that none of her characters were drawn from real people living on the island.  Every person was uniquely dreamt up by her.

Higher learning for women was a subject that L.M. Montgomery did not shy away from in her Anne novels.  In Anne of the Island, Anne Shirley is the first girl to leave Avonlea in order to attend college.  And Montgomery’s own experience with yearning for higher scholastics formed some inspiration for the plot of the third novel in her Anne series.

The works of L.M. Montgomery contain some of the most moving romantic subtleties.  And some of the most lingering scenes conveyed in Kevin Sullivan’s Anne of Green Gables are those in which the title characters struggle to express how they really feel.  Often, a great deal is said in very few words.