Reaching the Alpine Path: 151 years of L.M. Montgomery

I never make New Year’s resolutions because I do not believe in them.

Instead, I am blessing everyone with an article written purely for my own vanity; this year will mark 151 years of L.M. [Lucy Maude] Montgomery, my favorite author.

For those who had a dull childhood, she is the author of the “Anne Of Green Gables” series, yes, I said series, and many other works of fiction, poetry, and countless short stories featuring characters just as loveable as Anne Shirley.

I will never forget checking “Anne of Green Gables” out from my elementary school library in fourth grade. I had to come home early sick that day. Huddled up miserable in bed, it wasn’t long before Anne with an E captured my heart and plunged me into the world of Avonlea, a fictional place reminiscent of Cavendish on Prince Edward Island where Montogmery is from. Anne’s home, Green Gables, is modeled after the one Montgomery grew up in under the care of her maternal grandparents.

After voraciously reading all the Anne books, I moved onto the “Emily of New Moon” series, which most closely aligns with Montgomery’s own childhood, to her Pat Gardner books, to stand alone masterpieces like “The Blue Castle,” “A Tangled Web,” “The Story Girl,” and “Magic for Marigold.”

When a fan complained the character of Pat Gardner [“Pat of Silver Bush” and “Mistress Pat”] was too dark, Montgomery answered, “I gave Anne my imagination, Emily my knack for scribbling; but the girl who is myself more than any other is ‘Pat of Silver Bush’… Not externally but spiritually she is I.”

In Montgomery I found a kindred spirit- someone who understood characters popping into your head unbidden or words that must be written down before they are forgotten. She called these moments “The Flash” and I completely understood.

“You have the itch for writing born in you. It’s quite incurable. What are you going to do with it,” she is famously quoted as asking; a question I wholeheartedly identify with.

I have always written- even nominated through popular write -in ballot by my high school graduation class as most likely to be the next Stephen King.

When I was little everyone used to beg me to tell them stories, especially scary ones. I happily obliged until I started being blamed for other people’s nightmares.

No matter the genre, one thing my writing has always maintained, a hangover from my love of Montgomery, is humor. She always peppered her books with a character or two for levity.

From cantankerous self-affirmed men and women-haters, to know-it-all busybodies, she always included humor.

Before “Anne of Green Gables” would be published in 1908, the Canadian author worked as a proofreader for the newspapers Morning Chronicle and Daily Echo. Over the years, and most likely through legal disputes over rights to her work with her American publisher, Montgomery came to hate writing about Anne. All in all there eventually came to be eight published books in the series.

Montgomery’s other works never reached the height of popularity her Anne books did, a complete mystery to me, but she did end up writing 20 novels, over 500 short stories, an autobiography, and a book of poetry. Not that you would ask, but yes, I own and have read every work available in print.

Historical and full of morals, you definitely cannot go wrong shepherding young girls into the world of Avonlea. No stranger to hardships in life, Montgomery’s works are filled with strong women who always find a way to overcome.

For someone I have never actually met, she has had the deepest impact on who I am today. The closest I ever came to her in real life is when my dental hygienist married into the Montgomery family. After the wedding, she mailed me a postcard from P.E. Island signed with her new last name.

While I believe there is a little Anne Shirley in us all, the Montgomery characters I more closely identify with are Valancy Stirling of “The Blue Castle” and Emily Starr, the writer.

Through Emily we see a window into Montgomery’s world as she struggled for literary recognition in a man’s world. For those budding authors out there, Emily reminds us to keep reaching for the top of the Alpine Path, no matter how many rejection letters you receive.

Then whisper, blossom, in thy sleep

How I may upward climb

The Alpine Path, so hard, so steep,

That leads to heights sublime.

How I may reach that far-off goal

Of true and honoured fame

And write upon its shining scroll

A woman’s humble name.

“Alpine Path,” a poem written by L.M. Montgomery, appearing in “Emily of New Moon”