Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift Of Wings

Lucy Maud Montgomery's character Anne Shirley was a hopeful and inspired orphaned girl, gifted with a cheerful outlook and vivid imagination. Over the course of six Montgomery novels, Anne evolves into a spirited, strong and determined adult woman grounded in her values, morals and zest for life.

Since the release of the first Anne of Green Gables over 100 years ago, she is a character Canadians have grown to love, and for that, we have loved and cherished her author.

In the through and rich biography, "Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings," by long-time Montgomery biographer Mary Henley Rubio, we can find out that in youth Montgomery was very much like the legendary character she created. Orphaned as a young child, she was a hopeful young girl with dreams, wit and imagination, who longed for romance, bosom friendship, a passion for writing and the desire to grow roots in her beloved Prince Edward Island.

But in adulthood, Motgomery's life would not parallel that of Anne.
The novel explores many troubled decades which included the scars of abandonment from her father, marriage to a man with mental illness, numerous legal problems and the struggle to be seen as a relevant Canadian writer in the early 20th century. She would age to be a very lonely woman with incredible anxiety and a constant struggle to hold together what she knew would be a very public image.

Rubio's biography of Montgomery spans her birth and childhood in Prince Edward Island, young adulthood in the Maritimes, marriage, motherhood and building a life in Ontario. The book is a result of decades of research and interviews with hundreds of people tied to Montgomery and her family. The result is a rich, compelling, surprising and sometimes sad account of a Canadian literary icon we have cherished but never really knew.

This is a great biography. The attention to detail is amazing...I recommend reading her journals before this one, the combined insight is truly definitive. A sometimes sad look at a brilliant enigmatic woman ahead of her time.

I am a huge fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery and of her novels. I think I can safely say that I have read every biography or LMM related book available on the market (and then some). Mary Rubio is one of the most well-known LMM scholar and I actually had the opportunity of meeting her in PEI quite a few years ago.

LMM has always been an enigma and through the various biographies written about her (including her very own journals), you always get the feeling that you are still missing huge pieces of her life - that she is still, somehow, managing to remain a mystery.

All of this changed for me when I starting reading The Gift of Wings by Mary Rubio.

This is, withouth a doubt, the most comprehensive book every written on Maud and FINALLY answer so many of the "mystery" questions that have surrounded Maud's life and death for the last 60 years.

The Gift of Wings gives a wonderful glimpse of Maud's life as a youngster and how much she loved PEI. As I was reading, I could actually feel myself in PEI - in the 1800's. The book continues with the story of Ewan (Ewen) and Maud's meeting and subsequent wedding as well as their many moves and the birth of their children (including a third child that did not survive).

Throughout this book, you will find some little gems that had never previously been revealed. This is due in large part by the fact that Maud's son Stuart - met with Rubio on many occasions, before his death to talk about his mother and to give Rubio full access to all of Maud's journals and various writings etc. It is amazing to me to think what would have happened had all of these precious papers been left to Chester, Maud's other son.

There are some great black and whites shots of Maud, her friends and family.

What I also loved about this book is the fact that Rubio really dug deep into the family aspect. She honestly describes Chester (wow!) and Stuart as well as the problem Maud had with Ewan and medication.

FINALLY, this book also announces and clarifies that the "mystery" cause of LMM's death was potentially suicide - although there is some speculation that Maud may simply have accidentally overdosed on the drugs she has become addicted to (prescription).

NOWHERE in any other biography has this ever been mentioned in such a forthright manner. I always felt odd that this somehow was the worst kept secret and yet, never admitted to.

There is also a very interesting look at Maud's problem child - Chester.

Having said all of this, I always thought that although Maud would be the person I would most love to meet (which dead person would you love to talk with) I also always felt that while I would highly respect her as a writer, I probably would not like her as a person. She sounded incredibly vain and not particularly open to honestly discussing feelings, etc.

Although I understand that the time period was different, Maud got very despondent over war, Chester, money, etc. These are still issues that we face today and somehow I feel as though she tended to amplify in her own mind how horrible her life was. It seems to me, she was not living anything that other people were not living - and she had more money than most.

Still, this book is addictive and I could not put it down - which is a miracle since the book has over 600 pages.

This is "the" LMM biography. I suggest you buy it and savour it