42 Every Book Is a Friend 1908

When Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908, it became an immediate success. Everyone loved the story of the orphan that found a home on Prince Edward Island with an older couple. It sold thousands of copies. Perhaps Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote such a good story because she was really writing about herself.

When Maud was not yet two years old, her mother died from an illness in her lungs. Her father was very sad. He could not take good care of Maud because he was too sad to be a good father. He moved away from Prince Edward Island when Maud was seven years old, and he asked his parents to care for her. Maud's grandparents were old and believed in being strict. There were many rules in their house, and it was not much fun for Maud.

Maud was the only child in the house, and she was lonely. She did not have anyone to play with, so she needed to find something to do. She taught herself to read and she spent a lot of time reading books. Then Maud started to write when she was nine years old. She first kept a diary of what she did every day and later she wrote poems. Maud's grandfather was a good story teller and Maud learned to write stories from him. She said that being alone made her think of things in her head and write about them. Her short stories were good, but Maud's favourite way to create was through her poems. One time Maud sent her poems to a writing competition. The publisher liked them and he printed one when she was 15 years old.

That same year, Maud's father asked her to come live with him in Saskatchewan. He had married again and there was a new baby at his house. Maud was really happy to go live with her father because she had missed him very much. However, her father's house was not a happy place for Maud. His new wife treated Maud like a maid. She had to do everything around the house. Maud was not loved like a daughter. She decided to go back to Prince Edward Island to study to become a teacher.

Maud taught school for some time, but she did not like being a teacher. She did like the extra time it gave her to write, however. She also liked the money she got from teaching which meant she could live on her own. Even though Maud had enough money to take care of herself, she wanted to marry. When she became a teacher, Maud was at an age when she could do that.

Boys liked Maud and she had gotten her first boyfriend when she was 14 years old. When she was a teacher, Maud dated a couple of men, but she was not interested in marrying them. Then she met Ed and after some time, she promised she would marry him. She and Ed got engaged, but later Maud came to understand that she did not love Ed. She broke off the engagement. Next, Maud fell in love with Herman. Herman was a farmer, though and Maud thought she could find a better husband. She decided not to marry Herman. She decided to keep looking.

However, before Maud could meet another man, her grandfather died. At the age of 24, Maud had to move back into her grandparents' home to take care of her grandmother. She did that for the next 13 years. Maud really did not like her grandmother very much, and she was not happy living there. She spent a lot of time on her own. She started to write stories again and even started to sell some of her short stories. When Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908, it became a loved story all over the world.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES LIVED IN NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA

When Maud was 31 years old she met and fell in love with Ewan Macdonald. She was not able to marry him though because she had to live with her grandmother and take care of her. Maud and Ewan became secretly engaged in 1906, but they did not marry until Maud's grandmother died in 1911. Maud was quite old for marriage by then. She was 37 years old the day she married Ewan.

Maud and Ewan moved to Ontario where Ewan got a job as a church minister. They had three sons and Maud continued to write about Anne while she raised her children. Maud became famous and she went on to write 20 more books, 530 short stories, and 500 poems. Most of Maud's books took place on Prince Edward Island, so she made that province in Canada well-known. Maud made a lot of money as a writer and did not stop writing until her death.

Maud's life slowly started to get difficult again after she married Ewan. He was not physically or mentally well and Maud had to look after him. One of her sons died before he was born. Another of her sons, Chester, was not a good person. He lied, he stole and he got a girl pregnant. Chester married the girl, but he treated her so badly that she left him and moved back home. There was always trouble with Chester.

Then, after the First World War, it seemed people did not want to read about Anne of Green Gables anymore. They wanted to read real stories about real people. Maud found it hard to make enough money to keep her family alive. Chester and Ewan were no help to her either. When Ewan started taking medication for his mental illness, Maud started to take some because she was always sad. She and Ewan both became addicted to these medicines and found they were not able to stop taking these pills for the rest of their lives.

Maud stopped writing about Anne of Green Gables in 1920, but started again in 1936. In all, she completed eight books about Anne before her death. When she was 68 years old, Maud was found dead in her bed. The doctor said a heart attack had killed her. However, Maud left a note beside her bed. It seemed this was a suicide note. Maud's granddaughter believes Maud took an overdose of medicine to end her life because she never stopped feeling sad. If so, it is an odd ending to a famous Canadian because she gave a lot of happiness to those who read her books.

Maud's books are famous all over the world. They have shown others what it is like to live in Canada. Adrienne Clarkson, the Chinese-born woman who became Governor-General of Canada (see 1937), said she came to understand Canadian customs and culture by reading Maud's books.