It can be nice to get reacquainted with an old friend.
I recently renewed my acquaintance with Lucy Maud Montgomery. Or I should say, I renewed my acquaintance with her literature.
L. M. Montgomery, the prolific Canadian writer best known for her Anne of Green Gables series, wrote 20 novels and hundreds of poems and short stories.
Of course, as a young woman, I was all about Anne of Green Gables, both the books and the movies. In fact, I am sure I can thank Montgomery for my affinity for Queen Anne’s lace and spunky redheads.
I still love Montgomery’s heroine, Anne, but I am finding, as an older woman, that there are many more Montgomery treasures to discover and enjoy.
Nearly all of Montgomery’s novels are set in the picturesque Prince Edward Island province of Canada and have strong female characters.
My sisters’ virtual book group, Shelf Sisters, read The Blue Castle, in March 2019. Now Shelf Sisters just read her book, The Story Girl.
The Story Girl chronicles the adventures (and misadventures) of a group of cousins and their friends in – you guessed it – rural Prince Edward Island. One of the cousins has a particular talent for telling stories that captivate her listeners, old and young. The novel is about family, but you might also find something interesting between the lines about faith, fear, love, gender roles, and more.
Though written for a young audience, if you are feeling in the mood for charming, clean, clear writing with a touch of nostalgia, The Story Girl will not disappoint even an adult reader. I certainly do not mind being transported back to a simpler time when I did not have so many adult concerns and responsibilities.
There is such a place as fairyland – but only children can find the way to it. And they do not know that it is fairyland until they have grown so old that they forget the way.
Only a few, who remain children at heart, can ever find that fair lost path again; and blessed are they above mortals. They, and only they, can bring us tidings from that dear country where we once sojourned and from which we must evermore be exiles. The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and story-tellers; but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland.”
L. M. Montgomery, The Story girl, page 145
Laurie's Leaves 