LM Montgomery Book Making Headlines
July 26, 2012 - In the News
A new book on Lucy Maud Montgomery edited and introduced by retired University of Guelph professors Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Hillman Waterston has received positive reviews in the Winnipeg Free Press and the Globe and Mail.
The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery The PEI Years, 1889-1900 presents the full text of Montgomery’s journals of that period along with a selection of photographs, clippings and captions. The book is considered "a welcome addition to our knowledge of Montgomery’s life and legacy" and supplements the first volume of The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, published in 1985.
Retired from U of G’s School of English and Theatre Studies, Rubio is a recognized Lucy Maud Montgomery expert, having been asked by Montgomery’s son, Stuart Macdonald, to edit his mother’s personal journals. She has authored and edited many books about Montgomery, such as The Gift of Wings, an intimate narrative based on extensive interviews with people who knew Montgomery best. The book was shortlisted for the 2009 British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, Canada’s largest literary non-fiction award.
Rubio has hosted many international scholars who come to use U of G's renowned L.M. Montgomery Collection -- Montgomery's original journals, scrapbooks, photographs, needlework pieces, papers and personal library. Montgomery's son sold the journals and scrapbooks to U of G in 1981, shortly before his death.
University professor emerita Waterston also is a leading authority on the life and writings of Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables series. Waterston's book Magic Island: The Fictions of L.M. Montgomery explores the Anne stories, drawing parallels between Montgomery’s personal life and professional career and the characters in her novels. Along with Rubio, Waterston edited The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery and wrote the short biography Writing a Life: L.M. Montgomery. Waterston taught literature at U of G for more than two decades and was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada last year. She was also named to the Order of Ontario, considered the province's most prestigious honour.
