New material about the private life of Lucy Maud Montgomery has prompted a searching look at the beloved author of Anne of Green Gables. While her fictional characters inhabited a world where love and close community bonds overcame all tribulations, Montgomery´s real life was marked by grief and loneliness. Married to a clergyman who suffered from a debilitating mental illness, Montgomery struggled to keep up appearances in a Victorian society that valued propriety at all costs. As she aged, depression engulfed her; nonetheless, throughout her life, she maintained her prolific output of fiction, attracting ever-increasing numbers of fans. Acclaimed novelist Jane Urquhart has written several novels centring on the role of the artist. Here, she explores the life of a woman whose successful literary career broke the boundaries set for women of her time, but who could not escape the societal strictures of Victorian Canada or her own demons.
“A gem.” - London Free Press
“With its brevity, [Urquhart’s] book is a rich tour de force of Montgomery’s life.” - The Globe and Mail
“A beautifully crafted, if shockingly sad study of Lucy Maud Montgomery…. Urquhart … distils her famous subject to its essence…. Fascinating.” - Ottawa Citizen
“A poignant biography.” - Calgary Herald
“[The] choice of novelist Jane Urquhart … to pen a brief biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery was inspired…. The fit is perfect, and Urquhart’s wonderfully perceptive portrait of the richly talented Montgomery is without flaw…. A beautiful poetic biography, one which catches the essence of a remarkable personality.” - London Free Press
“A richly multi-layered portrait…. [An] excellent biography.” - Quill & Quire
