Lucy Maud Montgomery

Readying Rilla Lucy Maud Montgomery

Rilla of Ingleside, L. M. Montgomery's 1921 novel about the Canadian home-front during World War I, is both moving and at times very funny. Montgomery's original handwritten manuscript of 518 pages, along with 71 pages of notes, survives today, housed at the University of Guelph. The manuscript has been painstakingly rendered in a readable format by Kate Waterston, and is available here, with an introduction by Montgomery expert Elizabeth Waterston. This edition enables us to witness the process of Montgomery's literary refinement as she edited her own work. The world has changed much since 1921: books are now mostly composed on computer, leaving little record of a writer's creative journey. But editing is a key part of the process, and here is one of the most detailed records of it available.