Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables is the bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and the first book in the Anne of Green Gables series. It recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, a young orphan girl, age 11 who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who have a farm on Prince Edward Island and who had intended to adopt a boy to help them. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way with the Cuthberts, in school and within the town. Anne is described as bright and quick, eager to please, talkative, and extremely imaginative. She has a pale face with freckles and usually braids her red hair. The book recounts Anne's adventures in making a home: the country school where she quickly excels in her studies; her friendship with Diana Barry (her best or "bosom friend" as Anne fondly calls her); her budding literary ambitions; and her rivalry with classmate Gilbert Blythe, who teases her about her red hair. In writing Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery drew upon her own childhood experiences in rural Prince Edward Island. Montgomery used a photograph of Evelyn Nesbit as the model for the face of Anne Shirley, which she had clipped from New York's Metropolitan Magazine and put on the wall of her bedroom. Since publication, Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies and has been translated into 20 languages. Numerous sequels were written by Montgomery, and the original book is taught to students around the world.