If you are like me, LM Montgomery might have been a childhood staple. (Or quite frankly, a whole life staple.) Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon have provided many of us with an escape and a dream world, and there is a comfort in them. So, I was thrilled to see a new historical fiction novel about Montgomery’s own life. While it is different from Avonlea and New Moon, this book immediately pulled me in. Let’s get into After Anne by Logan Steiner and why I loved it!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
After Anne, Logan Steiner
A stunning and unexpected portrait of Lucy Maud Montgomery, creator of one of literature’s most prized heroines, whose personal demons were at odds with her most enduring legacy—the irrepressible Anne of Green Gables.
“Dear old world,” she murmured, “you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.” —L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908
As a young woman, Maud had dreams bigger than the whole of Prince Edward Island. Her exuberant spirit had always drawn frowns from her grandmother and their neighbors, but she knew she was meant to create, to capture and share the way she saw the world. And the young girl in Maud’s mind became more and more persistent: Here is my story, she said. Here is how my name should be spelled—Anne with an “e.”
But the day Maud writes the first lines of Anne of Green Gables, she gets a visit from the handsome new minister in town, and soon faces a decision: forge her own path as a spinster authoress, or live as a rural minister’s wife, an existence she once likened to “a respectable form of slavery.” The choice she makes alters the course of her life.
With a husband whose religious mania threatens their health and happiness at every turn, the secret darkness that Maud herself holds inside threatens to break through the persona she shows to the world, driving an ever-widening wedge between her public face and private self, and putting her on a path towards a heartbreaking end.
Why You Should Read This…
As a Canadian who grew up on Anne Shirley and Emily Byrd Starr, there is nothing more comforting to me than Lucy Maud Montgomery’s work. However, I don’t think that many people realise how difficult her life was as an adult, her marriage in particular.
Steiner pairs two periods in Maud’s life in After Anne– that when she was finishing up her first Anne of Green Gables book and then her later life in the 30s and 40s. Her husband was a strong but fairly unstable figure; we see Maud’s first meetings with Ewen and then how decades of his manic behaviour have affected her. I was not sure how his mental illness would be handled, but I think that Steiner handles it kindly and honestly.
In true Maud style, the book also explores female friendship and what that might have looked like for her. While I think that partners/spouses are an important part of life, friends can be just as important.
If you are an LM Montgomery fan, I think that this book pairs wonderfully with the journals that are mentioned throughout. Maud’s journals were published and they are fascinating, but I completely recognise that many people prefer to read fiction! And Steiner’s author’s note explains her own research on Maud’s life, which makes the novel feel that much more personal.
Is After Anne by Logan Steiner on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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