“One can dream so much better in a room where there are pretty things”
In a conversation with Marilla in Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley famously says, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” I like going back to look at the rest of that passage, including Anne’s insistence that the “gorgeous boughs” she’s brought into the house ought to give even Marilla “a thrill—several thrills” and that she’s going to decorate her room with them because “One can dream so much better in a room where there are pretty things. I’m going to put these boughs in the old blue jug and set them on my table.”
This beautiful bouquet was a birthday present from my family. When the birches turn “golden as sunshine” and the maples are “royal crimson,” I’ll bring in some leaves or branches (or perhaps I’ll just take photos.)
Happy October to all of you! I’m looking forward to discussing L.M. Montgomery’s novels The Story Girl and The Golden Road with you in November. In the meantime, if you’re looking for more opportunities to talk about Montgomery, you might be interested in the Anne of Green Gables readalong that Jana of Review from the Stacks is hosting this month.
In today’s post, Jana features a link to her review of my friend Melanie J. Fishbane’s wonderful novel Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery. Jana writes,
“Fishbane’s writing in Maud is beautiful. I have heard it compared to Montgomery’s own (no surprise there), Laura Ingalls Wilder, and other 19th century writers. Fishbane’s thorough research has not only given her the knowledge and ability to write a plausible fictional account of a portion of Montgomery’s life, it also allowed her to tap the styles and particularities of writing descriptive of the era she is writing about. The prose flows easily, reads quickly, and sinks pleasantly into the reader’s mind.”
(“Friday Linkups 23.9 Featuring Maud by Melanie J. Fishbane”)
When Melanie visited Halifax in the summer of 2017, she and I, along with my friend Marianne Ward, visited several L.M. Montgomery-related sites here, including the Old Burying Ground (“Old St. John’s Cemetery” in Anne of the Island) and the Forrest Building at Dalhousie University (“Redmond College”). If you’re interested, you can find the photos from that tour in the introduction to a guest post Melanie wrote for my blog, “Searching for Maud in the ‘Emily’ Series.”
I found it fascinating to reread what Melanie says in her guest post about fourteen-year-old Montgomery burning her diary, then starting a new one and announcing that this time, “I am going to keep this book locked up!!” We’ll never know what was in that first diary, but as Melanie says, writing an historical novel gave her the chance to imagine.
The post also includes photos of Melanie reading at one of my favourite bookstores, Mabel Murple’s; Melanie with the owner of Mable Murple’s, Sheree Fitch; and a photo of Melanie and me with Naomi MacKinnon. Lots of good memories!
Naomi is my co-host for The Story Girl/The Golden Road readalong—and we first met online when we were participating in a different Anne of Green Gables readalong, years ago. We discovered that we both live in Nova Scotia, soon made plans to meet in person, and have been good friends ever since. I hope you’ll join us next month for more conversations about LMM.
