My eyes have been opened to the passions of women during the ages,
by all ages. We more mature women can fall in love with Anne of
Green Gables all over again. Research by Irene Gammel was done in a
sensitive manner, allowing us a glimpse into the extraordinary mind
and imagination of Lucy Maud Montgomery and her life as an
minister's wife in the 1900's.
Her life was not without sorrows, joys, forbidden pleasures, and
the usual mundane trappings of any life. Her gift to herself and to
all of us, is her capacity for storytelling and her imagination
that takes us into another time and place with such ease and joy.
We can smell the flowers she loved, feel the trees, know her
friends as she did. We can visit her beloved Prince Edward Island,
live in Leaksdale, Ontario as a new wife and mother. We can walk
beneath her beloved Russel Pines in Norval, Ontario.
In her forthright but exceptional way - we are allowed to see a
woman's mind at its best - working with life around her and using
her imagination and love of words, colours, nature and people to
teach us about the times, the country and its people.
In doing so, she allows us a rare glimpse into ourselves and how
imaginations offer any of us little tidbits of joy and happiness.
These are usually tucked away in our minds, never shared or
enjoyed. Women of all ages get busy with life, nuturing, and
working. We put away our precious selves in this process. Lucy Maud
didn't. She wrote and recorded all her feelings, joy, sorrows,
loves and dislikes too. She wove it into a legacy of emotive books,
poems, plays, essays, and more. She engaged the community then. She
does now. Her writings literally pulse with life.
Irene has brought all of this out in this book , Looking for
Anne:How Lucy Maud Montgomery Dreamed Up a Literary Classic. She
makes Lucy Maud come alive in a modern world, permitting us to stop
and wonder at the capacity of this busy, yet ordinary woman.
Irene's legacy to us to make us think about our own imagination,
thoughts and joys during our own lifes. Perhaps giving some of us
more mature women, and younger ones too, a reason to stop and dust
off our own imaginations. Irene is using her education and research
abilities to unlock a door for all of us to open. I urge anyone,
whether you have ever read an Anne book or known about Lucy Maud
Montgomery - to open the door to imagination and joys or your own
as you read and marvel at the workings of a woman's passion.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Irene Gammel this past weekend
at the Lucy Maud Museum in Norval, Ontario at a book signing by her
for Looking for Anne. She was a pure delight with her personality
as fresh as her writings. Thank you Irene for writing your story. I
loved the passion you have for this mammoth project. I am
constantly astounded at what we women do in our lives. I love the
story of any of us as we educate each other and look for ways to
let our passions shine.
So to all of you women of any age - get out and buy a copy of this
book. Give yourselves a gift of imagination from Irene and Lucy
Maud herself. I think Lucy Maud would be amazed and very content to
think that after 100 years her story is still inspiring others to
think and to tell their own.
Dawn Falls