NOTES

All of the quoted material in the book, unless otherwise noted, is from L. M. Montgomery. Whenever possible, her writings were used to capture the essence of the landscapes of Prince Edward Island. She—and by extension, Anne Shirley—knew the island’s natural world so intimately that any attempt to paraphrase her work would diminish its elegance and risk missing the nuances of light and shadow, color and season, and time of day or night she knew so well. For both “Lucy Maud,” as the islanders call her, and Anne of Green Gables, the beauty of Prince Edward Island is intricately linked to the workings of their imaginations; by spending time with Montgomery’s descriptions, we can begin to see how such a place could shape one’s very character and, in turn, make Prince Edward Island such a memorable landscape to a worldwide audience of appreciative readers.

Source abbreviations

AGG	L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. Boston: L. C. Page and Company, 1908. Norton Critical Edition edited by Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston. NY: Norton, 2007.
AHD	L. M. Montgomery, Anne’s House of Dreams. Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild, and Stewart; New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917.
AP	L. M. Montgomery, The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career. Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd, 1917.
AV	L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea. Boston: L. C. Page and Company, 1909.
CM	The Canadian Magazine
ENM	L. M. Montgomery, Emily of New Moon. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart; New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1923.
LMM	Mary Henley Rubio, Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings. Toronto: Anchor Canada, 2008.
SJ	L. M. Montgomery, The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, vols. 1–3. Edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston. Ontario: Oxford University Press, 1985–1992.
SP	Francis W. L. Bolger, Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island. NY: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Citations to sources

1. These lines from Robert Browning’s poem “Evelyn Hope” appear as the epigraph to AGG. The wording of the second line deviates slightly from the original poem, which reads: “The good stars met in your horoscope / Made you of spirit, fire and dew.”

This Island Is the Bloomiest Place: An Introduction

1. “we fairly lived”: SJ, vol. 1, Aug. 15, 1892, 83.

Kindred Orphans: The Lives of Maud Montgomery and Anne Shirley

1. “I would like”: SJ, vol. 1, July 26, 1896, 162.

2. “I put my arm”: SJ, vol. 1, Mar. 6, 1892, 78.

3. “I have never drawn”: SJ, vol. 2, Jan. 27, 1911, 38.

4. “When I am asked”: SJ, vol. 2, Jan. 27, 1911, 39–40.

5. “a real mother”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 7, 1910, 383.

6. “It gave me exquisite”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 7, 1910, 383.

7. “My childish faults” and “I resented this”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 301.

8. “lover of nature” and “a rich, poetic”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 7, 1910, 382.

9. “stern, domineering”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 301.

10. “He bruised my”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 301.

11. “It’s terrible lonesome”: AGG.

12. “kind . . . in a”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 301.

13. “I was constantly”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 301.

14. “Emotionally they grew”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 302.

15. “I was impulsive”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 301.

16. “I cannot call”: SJ, vol. 1, Oct. 6, 1890, 33.

17. “reads all my” and “is so cross”: SJ, vol. 1, Oct. 6, 1890, 33.

18. “The truth of”: SJ, vol. 1, July 21, 1891, 57.

19. “that he finds”: SJ, vol. 1, Aug. 26, 1890, 30.

20. “Father is a poor”: SJ, vol. 1, May 14, 1891, 50.

21. “Oh, for one glimpse”: SJ, vol. 1, Aug. 20, 1890, 29.

22. “Of course I know”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 11, 1890, 37.

23. “pink and white”: SJ, vol. 1, May 13, 1890, 20.

24. “I long for the sight”: SJ, vol. 1, April 25, 1897, 185.

25. “must be the souls”: AGG.

26. “I always say good”: AGG.

27. “talking in their” and “dreams they must”: AGG.

28. “made friends” and “been lonesome”: AGG.

29. “I just love”: SJ, vol. 1, Oct. 11, 1889, 3.

30. “In the woods”: letter to G. B. MacMillan, Sept. 16, 1906; quoted in SP.

31. “Anne’s habit”: SJ, vol. 2, Jan. 27, 1911, 40.

32. “was of course”: SJ, vol. 2, Jan. 27, 1911, 42.

33. “the effects of”: SJ, vol. 2, Jan. 27, 1911, 40.

34. “As far back”: SJ, vol. 2, Jan. 27, 1911, 41.

35. “If I really”: AGG.

36. “I have an ideal”: SJ, vol. 1, July 26, 1896, 162.

37, 38. “tattered, beclayed,” “faces plastered,” and “We were picking”: SJ, vol. 1, Sept. 25, 1899, 2.

39. “It has been” and “It just seemed”: SJ, vol. 1, Oct. 20, 1890, 34.

40. “entirely too much,” “more and more,” and “while this odd”: AGG.

The Loveliest Spot on Earth: Prince Edward Island Then and Now

1. “Mr. Bell having”: AGG.

2. “always rustling”: AGG.

3. “I consider it”: SJ, vol. 1, Apr. 12, 1903, 287.

4. “I love this”: SJ, vol. 1, Mar. 16, 1904, 294.

5. “idolatrously” and “happier there”: SJ, vol. 1, Mar. 11, 1904, 292.

6. “It is the dearest” and “and has the greatest”: SJ, vol. 1, Oct. 8, 1899, 243.

7. “through so many”: AGG.

8. “shimmering and blue”: AGG.

9. “the last happy” and “whole past life”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 7, 1910, 390.

10. “the hardest I”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 7, 1910, 391.

11. “no leafy lanes”: SJ, vol. 1, April 25, 1897, 185.

12. “A year of”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 7, 1910, 391.

13. “It is evening”: SJ, vol. 1, May 1, 1899, 238.

Something More Poetical: The Scope of Two Imaginations

1. “it would be” and “This island is”: AGG.

2. “shone like a” and “queer funny ache”: AGG.

3. “Oh, isn’t it,” “small and wormy,” and “Oh, I don’t”: AGG.

4. “it was really”: AGG.

5. “could have found”: AGG.

6–113. “I was firmly” and “I was trying”: AGG.

7. “gorgeous dreamland”: AGG.

8. “Isn’t it fortunate”: AGG.

9. “for goodness sake,” “receive the lily,” and “Anne looked at”: AGG.

10. “Will you ever” and “Don’t give up”: AGG.

11. “I was so”: AP.

12. “Oh, we have”: AGG.

13. “preferring to take” and “A white strip”: AGG.

14. “The night was” and “truly delightful”: AGG.

15. “Came dancing home”: AGG.

16. “Grandfather doesn’t”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 23, 1895, 150.

17. “its roofs and spires,” “tiny dark headlands,” “baleful star,” “a concave,” and “with a maiden”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 23, 1895, 150.

18. “a thunderbolt from”: SJ, vol. 1, May 1, 1900, 248.

19. “Even when he”: SJ, vol. 1, May 1, 1900, 249.

20, 21. “With the effort” and “Oh, as long”: SJ, vol. 1, May 1, 1900, 249.

22. “It was lovely”: SJ, vol. 1, Nov. 20, 1906, 324.

23. “one can dream,” “so painfully bare,” and “was of a”: AGG.

24. “Marilla had eyed” and “it’s the eatables”: AGG.

25. “a couple of,” “How I love,” “a tree in some,” “so utterly,” and “It is hard”: SJ, vol. 1, April 25, 1897, 185.

26. “red fields smoking” and “Marilla’s sober”: AGG.

27. “Every little cove”: AGG.

Emerald Screens: Maud’s and Anne’s Favorite Gardens

1. “It is the greatest”: SJ, vol. 1, July 30, 1905, 307.

2. “Fair, rich confusion”: Anna Bartlett Warner quoted in May Brawley Hill, Grandmother’s Garden: The Old-Fashioned American Garden, 1865–1915, NY: Abrams, 1995, 29.

3. “There is nothing”: SJ, vol. 1, Aug. 28, 1901, 263–264.

4. “be born not”: SJ, vol. 1, Aug. 28, 1901, 263.

5. “sweet old-fashioned”: AGG.

6. “she did not like”: AV.

7. “My garden—oh”: SJ, vol. 1, July 30, 1905, 307.

8. “We have been:” SJ, vol. 2, May 18, 1913, 119.

9. “a perfect river”: SJ, vol. 2, Sept. 1, 1919, 324.

10. “very old-fashioned”: “A Garden of Old Delights,” CM, June 1910.

11. “old Mrs. George”: SJ, vol. 1, Aug. 28, 1901, 263.

12. “there is no sweeter”: AGG.

13. “delicious aroma”: AV.

14. “no soft blending” and “the only things”: AHD.

15. “A Prince Edward” and “my favorite object”: SJ, vol. 2, April 15, 1914, 145.

16. “All the little wood”: AGG.

17. “a June dawn”: AHD.

A World With Octobers: The Seasons of Prince Edward Island

1. “Spring is the best”: “Spring in the Woods,” CM, vol. 37, no. 1, May 1911, 59.

2. “the initials of”: “Spring in the Woods,” CM, vol. 37, no. 1, May 1911, 60.

3. “all the grass”: “Spring in the Woods,” CM, vol. 37, no. 1, May 1911, 60.

4. “those shyest”: AGG.

5. “pale, aerial”: AGG.

6. “Spring—spring”: SJ, vol. 2, April 15, 1914, 145.

7. “Believe me”: “Spring in the Woods,” CM, vol. 37, no. 1, May 1911, 59.

8. “It was a girl”: AGG.

9. “The spring woods”: CM, vol. 37, no. 5, Sept. 1911, 399.

10. “Who that has”: “The Woods in Summer,” CM, vol. 37, no. 5, Sept. 1911, 399.

11. “the golden summer”: AGG.

12. “dancing up the”: AGG.

13. “Haying began today”: SJ, vol. 1, July 24, 1899, 238.

14. “A cool wind”: AGG.

15. “as big as our fists”: AP.

16. “All the gaps”: AGG.

17. “Isn’t this evening”: AGG.

18. “Harvest is ended” and “It is October”: SJ, vol. 1, Oct. 7, 1897, 195.

19. “curled up Turk-fashion”: AGG.

20. “the infinite sadness”: SJ, vol. 1, Oct. 7, 1897, 195.

21. “people like to”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 31, 1891, 71.

22. “in the wonderful”: AGG.

23. “Anne revelled”: AGG.

24. “Finally, as the”; “half frozen”; “shook with laughter”; “not half a mile”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 27, 1897, 177–178.

25. “We have had” and “I would say”; SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 27, 1905, 303.

26. “as dark as”; SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 27, 1905, 303.

27. “sally out”: SJ, vol. 1, Feb. 8, 1905, 303.

28. “I hate it”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 22, 1900, 254.

29. “the blues” and “I’ll be all”: SJ, vol. 1, Mar. 16, 1904, 294.

30. “I have some”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 10, 1905, 311.

31. “feel ashamed of”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 20, 1907, 329.

32. “began to suffer” and “And I could”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 22, 1893, 98–99.

That Great and Solemn Wood: A Writer’s Life

1. “I had . . . then”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 301.

2. “the best book”: SJ, vol. 3, Feb. 15, 1922, 39.

3. “I have had”: SJ, vol. 3, Feb. 15, 1922, 39.

4. “It has always” and “those glimpses”: SJ, vol. 1, Jan. 2, 1905, 301.

5. “I could learn” and “if I only”: AGG.

6. “five volumes”: AP.

7. “I seem to have”: SJ, vol. 1, April 9, 1897, 183.

8. “I am sitting” and “for another cold”: SJ, vol. 1, Mar. 1, 1897, 181.

9. “I have been writing” and “How I love my”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 31, 1898, 228.

10. “I am so”: SJ, vol. 1, May 24, 1908, 334.

11. “nervous prostration” and “‘That which I feared’”: SJ, vol. 1, Feb. 7, 1910, 392.

12. “a great comfort”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 23, 1909, 362.

13. “This evening, as”: SJ, vol. 1, Dec. 26, 1909, 364–365.

14. “Maud took enormous”: LMM, 172.

15. “I have lost”: quoted in LMM, 576.

16. “a successful author”: LMM, 299.

17, 18. “I feel a” and “Such moments come”: “The Woods in Winter,” CM, vol. 38, no. 2, Dec. 1911, 164.