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Maud Montgomery. Uskrzydlona
Najsłynniejsza biografia niezwykłej kanadyjskiej pisarki.
Mary Henley Rubio twórczości Lucy Maud Montgomery poświęciła całe dekady – samo przygotowanie do druku dzienników pisarki zajęło jej ponad dwadzieścia lat. Pracując nad biografią Montgomery, przeprowadziła wiele wywiadów z ludźmi osobiście z nią związanymi – jej synem, synową, krewnymi, znajomymi, sąsiadami i służącymi. Ponadto dogłębnie przebadała bogatą korespondencję pisarki oraz prześledziła wszystkie możliwe źródła, do których zdołała dotrzeć, by rzetelnie przedstawić kontekst społeczno-historyczny życia L.M.M. Krótko mówiąc: zrobiła wszystko, co mogła, by stworzyć jak najlepszą opowieść o jej losach.
W monumentalnym tomie, który mamy przyjemność po raz pierwszy zaprezentować polskim czytelnikom, Mary Henley Rubio zawarła wielowymiarowy, często zaskakujący portret Maud z Wyspy Księcia Edwarda. Pisarkę poznajemy na wszystkich etapach życia – w pozornie idyllicznym dzieciństwie, naznaczonym jednak utratą matki; pełnych pasji młodzieńczych latach, wypełnionych walką o wykształcenie i niezależność w patriarchalnym świecie; oraz dojrzałym życiu, gdy jako bestsellerowa autorka musiała łączyć opiekę nad chorym psychicznie mężem, macierzyństwo i rygorystyczny tryb pracy.
Maud Montgomery. Uskrzydlona jest fascynującą, intymną opowieścią o ukochanej pisarce wielu pokoleń, daleko wykraczającą poza to, co sama wyjawiła światu. To lektura obowiązkowa każdego miłośnika jej utworów.
Mary Henley Rubio twórczości Lucy Maud Montgomery poświęciła całe dekady – samo przygotowanie do druku dzienników pisarki zajęło jej ponad dwadzieścia lat. Pracując nad biografią Montgomery, przeprowadziła wiele wywiadów z ludźmi osobiście z nią związanymi – jej synem, synową, krewnymi, znajomymi, sąsiadami i służącymi. Ponadto dogłębnie przebadała bogatą korespondencję pisarki oraz prześledziła wszystkie możliwe źródła, do których zdołała dotrzeć, by rzetelnie przedstawić kontekst społeczno-historyczny życia L.M.M. Krótko mówiąc: zrobiła wszystko, co mogła, by stworzyć jak najlepszą opowieść o jej losach.
W monumentalnym tomie, który mamy przyjemność po raz pierwszy zaprezentować polskim czytelnikom, Mary Henley Rubio zawarła wielowymiarowy, często zaskakujący portret Maud z Wyspy Księcia Edwarda. Pisarkę poznajemy na wszystkich etapach życia – w pozornie idyllicznym dzieciństwie, naznaczonym jednak utratą matki; pełnych pasji młodzieńczych latach, wypełnionych walką o wykształcenie i niezależność w patriarchalnym świecie; oraz dojrzałym życiu, gdy jako bestsellerowa autorka musiała łączyć opiekę nad chorym psychicznie mężem, macierzyństwo i rygorystyczny tryb pracy.
Maud Montgomery. Uskrzydlona jest fascynującą, intymną opowieścią o ukochanej pisarce wielu pokoleń, daleko wykraczającą poza to, co sama wyjawiła światu. To lektura obowiązkowa każdego miłośnika jej utworów.
712 pages, Hardcover
First published October 3, 2008
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September 13, 2024
4,75/5
Odejmuję 0,25 za styl autorki.
Trochę się popłakałam na końcu nie ukrywam.
Odejmuję 0,25 za styl autorki.
Trochę się popłakałam na końcu nie ukrywam.
October 18, 2010
When I was 20 I stumbled upon the first volume of L.M. Montgomery's published journals in the stacks of my college library. As a long-time fan of Anne of Green Gables and other old favorites by Montgomery, I eagerly checked it out. At the time I was living in a romantic garret in an old house, an attic with sloping roofs on which the rain would drum cozily at night, with a row of windows overlooking the back of the house where a hill sloped steeply down to a creek, giving me a view of an ever-changing sea of tree-tops. Both the place and my state of mind were conducive to a feeling of kinship with Maud. She was, I found, very much like the heroine of one of her own books: vivacious, imaginative, and keenly alive to the beauties of nature and literature. Later I realized that the self L.M. Montgomery portrayed in this first volume of her journal was to an extent as much a created character as Anne or Emily. In middle-age Montgomery began copying out her diaries for posterity and shaped and edited and probably rewrote as she went. Still, the reading of this volume marked for me a turning point, in that I was now more interested in Montgomery as a person than as a writer. She seemed like a friend, and as was the case with real-life friends, one sometimes had to be patient as she worked through her emotional troubles and her doldrums -- not all of the entries were scintillating, and although the early part of her life was full of hope and possibilities, friends and hard work, she seemed prone to gloom and self-pity.
Over the next 15 years or so, I read each new installment of the journals as they were published (there were eventually five altogether). Each volume was progressively more painful and depressing. This reflects many things. Ironically, as Montgomery achieved success, her life became more constricted. Growing up in a small community she was always conscious of the negative power of gossip and the need to keep up appearances. As a best-selling writer she was scrutinized by the public gaze more than ever. Her marriage to a minister didn't help matters -- the cheerful minister's wife, active in all the church affairs, was just another role she had to play while suppressing her own needs and desires (although she did always manage to make time for her writing). So as Maud grew older, her journal became less of a record of events, and more of an outlet for her worst feelings of depression which she couldn't express anywhere else. Accordingly, the events she focused on were largely dreary -- the mental illness of her husband, the petty troubles caused by the small-minded people she had to deal with, a seemingly endless series of law suits with her first publisher, and later, worries over her oldest son. Still I persevered, out of a morbid need to know what awful thing would happen next, and from a sense of loyalty to someone I felt I cared about, despite the fact that I was often maddened by how convention-bound Montgomery was as a person, given that her fiction seemed to reflect someone far more free-spirited. As the journals progressed, I was reminded again that Montgomery was not always a reliable narrator, and I found myself curious about certain gaps -- she had a tendency to write at length about how miserable she was about things (especially concerning her sons), without saying exactly what they were. At some point I became aware that Mary Rubio, one of the editors of the journal, was at work on a biography -- it was a given that I would read it the moment it was possible to do so. Rather shallowly, I wanted to get the whole scoop on some of those gaps, but also, I wanted to get a clear-eyed perspective of Montgomery as a person seen whole.
It's taken me longer to get a hold of the biography than I thought it would, because even though it's surely the most definitive and authoritative biography of Montgomery there is, it's not been published in the States. But a kind friend lent it to me, and I gulped the 600+ page book down in three days (with some pauses to attend to my children). It is almost all that I hoped it would be. Like all biographies, it's a little ponderous and full of details that will not interest all readers, but Rubio, who has devoted nearly all her career to the research of Montgomery's life, writes well and the book is readable. The main theme that emerges is a conflict Montgomery herself was aware of, and that she expressed as "a very uncomfortable blend in my make-up -- the passionate Montgomery blood and the Puritan Macneill conscience." It appears to me that, except in her writing, the puritanical side always won out, and that made her life quietly tragic. Depression and mental illness are another theme. Rubio, while abstaining from making any diagnosis provides enough details about Montgomery's mental state and its fluctuations to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. A section towards the end of the book about the inappropriate medications both Maud and her husband were given by doctors for their "nerves" that exacerbated their conditions is both illuminating and horrifying. And yes, some of those teasing little gaps in the journals did get filled, and one can sympathize with Montgomery for not spelling everything out.
If I have one complaint about the biography it's that the first section about Maud's life on PEI Island felt rushed. We have 146 pages about the first 36 years of her life (including the publication of her first books) and 424 on the remaining 31. This imbalance is a direct reflection of the journals. Simply, Montgomery wrote more later in life when she was unhappy. Perhaps it's natural that Rubio, as one of the co-editors of the journals, found herself following the arc of Montgomery's life that they presented, even as she shows how they often don't present a fully balanced view of Montgomery's life (in her darkest years, people who knew Montgomery recollected a cheerful busy and stimulating person).
Perhaps I read this biography too fast and feverishly. I emerged from it, after three days of gloom, capped by weeping at the description of Montgomery's death and funeral, with a huge sense of nothing less than relief. I now know everything I will ever know about this woman. What I don't know, I will not wonder about. I'll reread her novels, but probably not her journals, and not this biography. I will, however, hold on to my fondness for the memories of the time Maud and I spent getting acquainted, up in my attic room when we were both young.
Over the next 15 years or so, I read each new installment of the journals as they were published (there were eventually five altogether). Each volume was progressively more painful and depressing. This reflects many things. Ironically, as Montgomery achieved success, her life became more constricted. Growing up in a small community she was always conscious of the negative power of gossip and the need to keep up appearances. As a best-selling writer she was scrutinized by the public gaze more than ever. Her marriage to a minister didn't help matters -- the cheerful minister's wife, active in all the church affairs, was just another role she had to play while suppressing her own needs and desires (although she did always manage to make time for her writing). So as Maud grew older, her journal became less of a record of events, and more of an outlet for her worst feelings of depression which she couldn't express anywhere else. Accordingly, the events she focused on were largely dreary -- the mental illness of her husband, the petty troubles caused by the small-minded people she had to deal with, a seemingly endless series of law suits with her first publisher, and later, worries over her oldest son. Still I persevered, out of a morbid need to know what awful thing would happen next, and from a sense of loyalty to someone I felt I cared about, despite the fact that I was often maddened by how convention-bound Montgomery was as a person, given that her fiction seemed to reflect someone far more free-spirited. As the journals progressed, I was reminded again that Montgomery was not always a reliable narrator, and I found myself curious about certain gaps -- she had a tendency to write at length about how miserable she was about things (especially concerning her sons), without saying exactly what they were. At some point I became aware that Mary Rubio, one of the editors of the journal, was at work on a biography -- it was a given that I would read it the moment it was possible to do so. Rather shallowly, I wanted to get the whole scoop on some of those gaps, but also, I wanted to get a clear-eyed perspective of Montgomery as a person seen whole.
It's taken me longer to get a hold of the biography than I thought it would, because even though it's surely the most definitive and authoritative biography of Montgomery there is, it's not been published in the States. But a kind friend lent it to me, and I gulped the 600+ page book down in three days (with some pauses to attend to my children). It is almost all that I hoped it would be. Like all biographies, it's a little ponderous and full of details that will not interest all readers, but Rubio, who has devoted nearly all her career to the research of Montgomery's life, writes well and the book is readable. The main theme that emerges is a conflict Montgomery herself was aware of, and that she expressed as "a very uncomfortable blend in my make-up -- the passionate Montgomery blood and the Puritan Macneill conscience." It appears to me that, except in her writing, the puritanical side always won out, and that made her life quietly tragic. Depression and mental illness are another theme. Rubio, while abstaining from making any diagnosis provides enough details about Montgomery's mental state and its fluctuations to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. A section towards the end of the book about the inappropriate medications both Maud and her husband were given by doctors for their "nerves" that exacerbated their conditions is both illuminating and horrifying. And yes, some of those teasing little gaps in the journals did get filled, and one can sympathize with Montgomery for not spelling everything out.
If I have one complaint about the biography it's that the first section about Maud's life on PEI Island felt rushed. We have 146 pages about the first 36 years of her life (including the publication of her first books) and 424 on the remaining 31. This imbalance is a direct reflection of the journals. Simply, Montgomery wrote more later in life when she was unhappy. Perhaps it's natural that Rubio, as one of the co-editors of the journals, found herself following the arc of Montgomery's life that they presented, even as she shows how they often don't present a fully balanced view of Montgomery's life (in her darkest years, people who knew Montgomery recollected a cheerful busy and stimulating person).
Perhaps I read this biography too fast and feverishly. I emerged from it, after three days of gloom, capped by weeping at the description of Montgomery's death and funeral, with a huge sense of nothing less than relief. I now know everything I will ever know about this woman. What I don't know, I will not wonder about. I'll reread her novels, but probably not her journals, and not this biography. I will, however, hold on to my fondness for the memories of the time Maud and I spent getting acquainted, up in my attic room when we were both young.
June 3, 2019
It has been almost ten years or so since I first read (or more to the point with much perusing joy quite literally devoured) Mary Henley Rubio's superb biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery. And while I will always consider Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings very much a personal favourite, I also and definitely will need to in detail reread in order to post a considerably longer and more substantial review (or rather I should say, a review which I would personally consider adequate and sufficiently honouring of L. M. Montgomery, her life, her literary legacy). For now, and until I have the energy and even the required time to accomplish this, all I can and will say is that Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings is (in my humble opinion) the absolute best, the most current and also the most sensitively empathetic biography of L. M. Montgomery to date, showing her neither as a paragon of virtue nor as an inherently and massively problematic, troubled individual, showing both Maud's strengths and her weaknesses (including her often serious mental health issues), thus and happily, fortunately making Maud appear as first and foremost a human being, talented, sensual and with a lust for life (constantly striving forward and upwards even when, even if it pains and feels hopeless and depressing). Highly recommended is Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings and in my humble opinion, for serious fans of L. M. Montgomery, an absolute and total must read!
That being said, author Mary Henley Rubio does indeed, perhaps at times provide more than a trifle too much authorial interference and commentary, although considering that I do tend to personally and in fact agree with most of these additions and considerstions, they do not really all that much either bother or hugely distract me. However, as this might well still prove frustrating to and for those readers who absolutely desire and expect a straight biography with no (or at least with scant) additional comments and musings from the biographer/author, this small but still significant point of potential issue with Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings should, no it must at least be mentioned and pointed out. And yes, upon reconsidering, I have now, albeit with a somewhat guilty conscience, actually decided on changing my erstwhile five star ranking for Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings to but three, as I am definitely getting increasingly and annoyingly frustrated with and by biographers adding too much rumour, innuendo and their own "personal takes" on the lives and lifestyle choices of the individuals whose true, whose factual and real stories they are supposed to be recounting (although I do nevertheless still very much consider Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings totally and utterly a personal reading favourite and will always continue to do so).
That being said, author Mary Henley Rubio does indeed, perhaps at times provide more than a trifle too much authorial interference and commentary, although considering that I do tend to personally and in fact agree with most of these additions and considerstions, they do not really all that much either bother or hugely distract me. However, as this might well still prove frustrating to and for those readers who absolutely desire and expect a straight biography with no (or at least with scant) additional comments and musings from the biographer/author, this small but still significant point of potential issue with Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings should, no it must at least be mentioned and pointed out. And yes, upon reconsidering, I have now, albeit with a somewhat guilty conscience, actually decided on changing my erstwhile five star ranking for Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings to but three, as I am definitely getting increasingly and annoyingly frustrated with and by biographers adding too much rumour, innuendo and their own "personal takes" on the lives and lifestyle choices of the individuals whose true, whose factual and real stories they are supposed to be recounting (although I do nevertheless still very much consider Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings totally and utterly a personal reading favourite and will always continue to do so).
March 29, 2019
”All the stories that Maud told were essentially variations on her own personal narrative - those of young girls and women trying to find a home and a life where there is love, approval, and respect.”
To be fair to biographer Mary Henley Rubio, I believed (after reading The Gift of Wings) that she knows about as much as it is possible to know about Lucy Maud Montgomery - a writer beloved by so many generations of readers. After reading her extensive Introduction, not to mention 600 pages of carefully documented and footnoted biography, I was convinced that she had done her research both methodically and sensitively. How unfortunate, then, that I felt terribly depressed and sad by the time I reached the end of the ‘story’ of Montgomery’s life. Could Rubio have used a different lens? Made more emphasis of the joy and humour that are found, oh so plentifully, in the books? There is always a hazard involved in reading biography, and that is that you - as a reader - can never feel about or understand the writer’s books in quite the same way again. This is a biography that needs a “Reader Beware” sign.
As an adult reader of most of Montgomery’s oeuvre, I was well aware that her books varied a lot in terms of emotional tone. The “Emily of New Moon” trilogy, written 15 years after Anne of Green Gables features many of the same elements, but is so much darker and murkier. The ‘romantic’ storyline is certainly more conflicted and much less emotionally satisfying for the reader. I did sense that Montgomery had an emotionally intense nature and was probably prone to depression. I did also wonder if her (fairly late) marriage had brought her happiness.
There are a few key things made clear by this book. Firstly, it seems that Montgomery was gifted at compartmentalising all of the different aspects of her life. There are great gaps between what the witnesses to her life remembered - and this includes family intimates, and the maids who worked closely beside her - and what Montgomery herself felt or chose to write about. This gap is most dramatic when it comes to Maud’s relationships with the men in her life - most importantly, with her husband Ewan. Secondly, Rubio makes it clear that the journals are, in their own way, just as ‘shaped’ by their author as her fictional stories were. They give the impression of openness and truth-telling, while in many respects they just distort they overall picture of her life. Perhaps, after all, the books can tell us just as much about how Maud’s unique mind and psyche worked.
Rubio doesn’t emphasise feminist theory in this biography, but the facts speak for themselves. Although Montgomery’s money, all self-earned, meant that she was the dominant power in her otherwise all-male family, she suffered in many ways from being a woman. It was a struggle for her to get the secondary education she deserved; Rubio emphasises the breadth of Maud’s intellectual gifts (including an outstanding memory), and what little scope there was for someone of Maud’s talents. Also, the societal prejudice against “spinsters” probably encouraged (if not forced) Maud into a marriage that she was highly ambivalent about. An unscrupulous publisher took advantage of her, which led to years of expensive and stressful lawsuits. And finally, in middle-age, as tastes in literature changed, she was treated quite shabbily by some of the prominent male critics of the day. Rubio goes into some detail about how devastating it was for Maud to have her writing, and her overall contribution to Canadian literature, so devalued.
Montgomery’s life was exhausting to read about, never mind to live. There was rarely a time when she wasn’t suffering from familial pressure or financial worry of every kind. Despite it all, she kept on writing, and she lectured, and she involved herself in a huge variety of household and church/social activity. Rubio emphasises that Maud’s grandmother, who raised her, taught her self-discipline and work habits which were ingrained in her (naturally impulsive and dreamy) character. I was filled with awe at everything she managed to accomplish, despite the constant drain of her family and her own depressive tendencies. She lived in a depressing time, too - suffering through World War I, and then the Great Depression, and finally the build-up to World War II. (She died in 1942.) She felt, of her own life, that she had witnessed an inexorable change in society from the relatively carefree and safe days of her childhood on Prince Edward Island.
In closing, I don’t regret reading this biography - but I would like to emphasise that it was a scarring experience.
To be fair to biographer Mary Henley Rubio, I believed (after reading The Gift of Wings) that she knows about as much as it is possible to know about Lucy Maud Montgomery - a writer beloved by so many generations of readers. After reading her extensive Introduction, not to mention 600 pages of carefully documented and footnoted biography, I was convinced that she had done her research both methodically and sensitively. How unfortunate, then, that I felt terribly depressed and sad by the time I reached the end of the ‘story’ of Montgomery’s life. Could Rubio have used a different lens? Made more emphasis of the joy and humour that are found, oh so plentifully, in the books? There is always a hazard involved in reading biography, and that is that you - as a reader - can never feel about or understand the writer’s books in quite the same way again. This is a biography that needs a “Reader Beware” sign.
As an adult reader of most of Montgomery’s oeuvre, I was well aware that her books varied a lot in terms of emotional tone. The “Emily of New Moon” trilogy, written 15 years after Anne of Green Gables features many of the same elements, but is so much darker and murkier. The ‘romantic’ storyline is certainly more conflicted and much less emotionally satisfying for the reader. I did sense that Montgomery had an emotionally intense nature and was probably prone to depression. I did also wonder if her (fairly late) marriage had brought her happiness.
There are a few key things made clear by this book. Firstly, it seems that Montgomery was gifted at compartmentalising all of the different aspects of her life. There are great gaps between what the witnesses to her life remembered - and this includes family intimates, and the maids who worked closely beside her - and what Montgomery herself felt or chose to write about. This gap is most dramatic when it comes to Maud’s relationships with the men in her life - most importantly, with her husband Ewan. Secondly, Rubio makes it clear that the journals are, in their own way, just as ‘shaped’ by their author as her fictional stories were. They give the impression of openness and truth-telling, while in many respects they just distort they overall picture of her life. Perhaps, after all, the books can tell us just as much about how Maud’s unique mind and psyche worked.
Rubio doesn’t emphasise feminist theory in this biography, but the facts speak for themselves. Although Montgomery’s money, all self-earned, meant that she was the dominant power in her otherwise all-male family, she suffered in many ways from being a woman. It was a struggle for her to get the secondary education she deserved; Rubio emphasises the breadth of Maud’s intellectual gifts (including an outstanding memory), and what little scope there was for someone of Maud’s talents. Also, the societal prejudice against “spinsters” probably encouraged (if not forced) Maud into a marriage that she was highly ambivalent about. An unscrupulous publisher took advantage of her, which led to years of expensive and stressful lawsuits. And finally, in middle-age, as tastes in literature changed, she was treated quite shabbily by some of the prominent male critics of the day. Rubio goes into some detail about how devastating it was for Maud to have her writing, and her overall contribution to Canadian literature, so devalued.
Montgomery’s life was exhausting to read about, never mind to live. There was rarely a time when she wasn’t suffering from familial pressure or financial worry of every kind. Despite it all, she kept on writing, and she lectured, and she involved herself in a huge variety of household and church/social activity. Rubio emphasises that Maud’s grandmother, who raised her, taught her self-discipline and work habits which were ingrained in her (naturally impulsive and dreamy) character. I was filled with awe at everything she managed to accomplish, despite the constant drain of her family and her own depressive tendencies. She lived in a depressing time, too - suffering through World War I, and then the Great Depression, and finally the build-up to World War II. (She died in 1942.) She felt, of her own life, that she had witnessed an inexorable change in society from the relatively carefree and safe days of her childhood on Prince Edward Island.
In closing, I don’t regret reading this biography - but I would like to emphasise that it was a scarring experience.
January 3, 2019
Heartbreaking, absolutely beautiful and well-researched biography about a woman whose writing I have said changed my life. I was thrilled to read that is exactly what many of her fans would say. For me, the big unanswered question remains, how could she save us that way when she couldn't save herself? It's a sobering look at what we can do with our art, what we must do, really. We give all we can, we give the best of us - no matter what we get in return. Outside of my personal obsession with L.M. Montgomery, this book is a fascinating look at what it takes to write a life. I read her journals first, which was the intention of the biographer, and then I read the biography. And, of course, I have read Montgomery's fiction over and over most of my life. There is so much to learn here - about being a woman, being an artist, a mother, a wife, a world-changer ("she encouraged change quietly, through the subtle force of her pen"). There is also much to learn about mental illness, self-medicating, the expectations we put on others and the expectations we put on ourselves. A very rich, very enriching read.
February 9, 2009
Very interesting biography. However, unfortunately not quite as unbiased as I'd hoped to see from somebody who's done SUCH extensive research on her subject matter (of course I understand no biography can ever be completely unbiased... I guess "neutral" is a better word).
My initial impression was that I was glad I'd read the journals before reading this. First of all, there were events Rubio skimmed over very quickly, where I was glad to have a bit more background information than the biography gave. Secondly, I felt it provided me with a more nuanced view of LMM's life than I would have had if I'd only had the biography as a source.
The book is generally well-written, although I did feel like Rubio occasionally included too much background information. I understand the desire to share 20+ years worth of research, but I felt the book would have flowed better if she'd limited the detailed information about various people's ancestors and had used the space thus freed up to include the endnotes she was forced to leave out instead. Also, there were many repetitions, where Rubio repeated herself practically word-for-word over a space of just a few pages - close enough, anyway, that I noticed.
I really appreciated this "condensed" version of the journals - it's much, much easier to keep all the details of various events (the different lawsuits in particular) straight when they're presented with all the information in one place, rather than - as necessary in the journals - spread out over the course of several YEARS where you forget the first details before the last have even happened yet.
However, I do think that Rubio unfortunately drew a lot of conclusions that I don't believe she had grounds to make - not based on the information given in GoW anyway. Of course she may have had other interviews etc. to base her theories on, but as these were never mentioned in GoW the reader doesn't know about them, and it therefore comes across as idle speculation. The most obvious case is the alleged importance of a person in LMM's life, based solely on a page in one of her scrapbooks. Based on this information alone there simply isn't enough evidence to state anything for sure one way or the other. I for one didn't agree with her interpretation, and was sad to notice how Rubio twisted a lot of events in the following to suggest that her interpretation was the correct one. It may have been - I don't dispute that - but because of the way it was written, there doesn't seem to be enough evidence, and the entire speculation comes across as gossipy and sensational. Something I was very sad to see in what I'd hoped would be a serious account.
Don't get me wrong, it mostly is. It just wasn't as unbiased as I'd expected, and Rubio seemed at times almost patronizing towards LMM in places - putting a lot of emphasis on small events that made LMM end up looking petty and unkind. She may have been / probably was at times, but these unnecessary connecting of unrelated circumstances stood out like a sore thumb. Once specific example is the end note #38 of the Norval years, where Rubio makes a very unfavourable comparison that I think completely uncalled for and unjust.
That said, I still really enjoyed the book - especially the extra insights and small details that I didn't already know and that were based on Rubio's many and detailed interviews with LMM's various maids, friends and of course Stuart himself. Rubio's obviously passionate about her work, and it clearly shows in her writing, making it engaging and easily read.
So definitely a very, very interesting book - but like with all other biographies it should be taken with a grain of salt and a lot of common "source criticism", as no biography can ever claim to be 100% unbiased.
My initial impression was that I was glad I'd read the journals before reading this. First of all, there were events Rubio skimmed over very quickly, where I was glad to have a bit more background information than the biography gave. Secondly, I felt it provided me with a more nuanced view of LMM's life than I would have had if I'd only had the biography as a source.
The book is generally well-written, although I did feel like Rubio occasionally included too much background information. I understand the desire to share 20+ years worth of research, but I felt the book would have flowed better if she'd limited the detailed information about various people's ancestors and had used the space thus freed up to include the endnotes she was forced to leave out instead. Also, there were many repetitions, where Rubio repeated herself practically word-for-word over a space of just a few pages - close enough, anyway, that I noticed.
I really appreciated this "condensed" version of the journals - it's much, much easier to keep all the details of various events (the different lawsuits in particular) straight when they're presented with all the information in one place, rather than - as necessary in the journals - spread out over the course of several YEARS where you forget the first details before the last have even happened yet.
However, I do think that Rubio unfortunately drew a lot of conclusions that I don't believe she had grounds to make - not based on the information given in GoW anyway. Of course she may have had other interviews etc. to base her theories on, but as these were never mentioned in GoW the reader doesn't know about them, and it therefore comes across as idle speculation. The most obvious case is the alleged importance of a person in LMM's life, based solely on a page in one of her scrapbooks. Based on this information alone there simply isn't enough evidence to state anything for sure one way or the other. I for one didn't agree with her interpretation, and was sad to notice how Rubio twisted a lot of events in the following to suggest that her interpretation was the correct one. It may have been - I don't dispute that - but because of the way it was written, there doesn't seem to be enough evidence, and the entire speculation comes across as gossipy and sensational. Something I was very sad to see in what I'd hoped would be a serious account.
Don't get me wrong, it mostly is. It just wasn't as unbiased as I'd expected, and Rubio seemed at times almost patronizing towards LMM in places - putting a lot of emphasis on small events that made LMM end up looking petty and unkind. She may have been / probably was at times, but these unnecessary connecting of unrelated circumstances stood out like a sore thumb. Once specific example is the end note #38 of the Norval years, where Rubio makes a very unfavourable comparison that I think completely uncalled for and unjust.
That said, I still really enjoyed the book - especially the extra insights and small details that I didn't already know and that were based on Rubio's many and detailed interviews with LMM's various maids, friends and of course Stuart himself. Rubio's obviously passionate about her work, and it clearly shows in her writing, making it engaging and easily read.
So definitely a very, very interesting book - but like with all other biographies it should be taken with a grain of salt and a lot of common "source criticism", as no biography can ever claim to be 100% unbiased.
January 15, 2015
Beautiful. Exceptionally well written.
January 27, 2018
Good grief, is this a good biography. Meticulously researched, willing to examine Montgomery’s journals skeptically and using outside sources to verify or question them, with endnotes just as fascinating as the text, this is a caring, careful, thorough look at Montgomery’s life. Is is clear that the author’s research, beginning in the late 70s and early 80s and continuing through the biography’s publication, and her incredible work co-editing Montgomery’s journals made this piece of a scholarship possible. All of you go read this.
February 10, 2011
Exerpted from my review "Magic Island and The Gift of Wings," Elizabeth Waterston and Mary Rubio. (Dual Book Review). Children’s Literature 38 (Spring 2010): 254-259.
"Rubio’s The Gift of Wings is not the first biography of Montgomery, but it is the most detailed and authoritative one to date. Montgomery penned her own brief memoir, The Alpine Path, which originated in 1917 as a series of articles for Everywoman’s World. Mollie Gillen’s The Wheel of Things (1975) broke ground as the first modern biography of Montgomery, but it has been superseded by more recent research. In 1995, Waterston and Rubio collaborated on a short biography titled Writing a Life: L.M. Montgomery; that study, too, has been supplanted by The Gift of Wings. The figure that emerges from Rubio’s new biography is complex—ambitious and talented, but deeply troubled. In particular, Rubio does a fine job of detailing Montgomery’s hardships, including fights with her publishers, marital troubles, reliance on prescription drugs, and despair over the decline in her prestige as literary tastes shifted away from fiction of “local color” and sentiment, with the rise of modernism.
One of the most valuable aspects of Rubio’s biography is its inclusion of interviews with people who knew Montgomery—her children, her maids, and her admirers. The inspiration for this project originated from an interview with Montgomery’s son, Dr. E. Stuart Macdonald, who informed Rubio that his mother was not the “ideal mother” present in her fiction—the maternal figure with a wonderful sense of humor and a tolerant appreciation of humanity—that Rubio had assumed her to be, but instead a rigid and touchy character who “prevented any easy camaraderie in the family” (5). It was Stuart Macdonald who requested that Rubio write this biography and who authorized its honest, if not always flattering, portrait of his mother’s life. He did so hoping that the biography would serve an educative function: if readers knew the truth about Montgomery, they might learn from her mistakes.
One such “mistake” was a rumored extramarital affair. Rubio makes the provocative claim that Montgomery may have had an adulterous liaison with Captain Edwin Smith. She includes an interview with Montgomery’s cantankerous maid, Lily, who attests to the romance, whispering conspiratorially, “He was her boyfriend” (268). Of course, this information raises questions about the reliability of its source, but the existence of such gossip says much about Montgomery’s complex relations with the people in her community. Her social interactions were often fraught, and Rubio does a fine job of illuminating two such problematic relationships—a fight with a local man, Marshall Pickering, that led to a bitter lawsuit, and an ill-fated friendship with an obsessed fan, Isabel Anderson.
Rubio is particularly impressive not only when discussing Montgomery’s journals, but when reconstructing periods of Montgomery’s life for which journal entries are scant. Her biography builds on the work of Irene Gammel who, in The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery (2005), established the importance of life-writing for Montgomery “as a self-consciously literary and artistic genre”; as Gammel has said, “theories of autobiography and life writing are crucial in examining the extent to which she managed to achieve a sense of agency for herself in composing her self-portraits in journals, letters, autobiography, and photography” (4-5). Like Gammel, Rubio contends that the journal entries are not so much records of fact as they are performative, deliberate artistic creations. She speculates that Montgomery created two personae in her journal entries: one, a persecuted, alienated, sensitive writer-figure; the other, a relatively happy, socialable individual (276). Rubio claims that these carefully cultivated personae emerged as Montgomery began to recopy and edit her journals: “Real life is untidy, unshaped, with loose ends. Her journals have no loose ends, no pointless stories, no catalogues of the boring effluvia of life, no people of importance to her narrative who have not been introduced. Each descriptive or narrative unit always becomes part of an unified whole” (274). Montgomery, the consummate storyteller, may have scripted her life writings, just as she outlined the plots of her novels.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of this new biography is the inclusion of what may be Montgomery’s suicide note, released by the author’s heirs for the first time in 2008. Rubio provides a persuasive reading of the document, disputing that it is a suicide note and asserting instead that it is merely a page of “grumbles” from her journals. Montgomery’s name for her journal was her “grumble book,” and she viewed it as a safe space to air her frequent disappointments and grievances. Rubio looks to the number on the suicide note, 176, as evidence of its being merely a page from her journals, which she always numbered. The other 175 pages of this journal are missing, which makes the appearance of the “suicide note” all the more mysterious. Rubio also speculates as to how and why these pages may have disappeared, concluding that Montgomery’s disreputable son, Chester, may have stolen them in an effort to hide his mother’s strong disapproval of his behavior and to secure inclusion in her will. The new research in this biography also reveals Montgomery’s possible addiction to prescription barbiturates. Given Montgomery’s depressed state of mind, her dependency on drugs, and her weakened central nervous system, an unintentional overdose was, as Rubio proposes, just as likely the cause of death as a suicide. However, no one knows the truth, and such information about Montgomery’s life is guaranteed to engender new controversy.
If Lucy Maud Montgomery falls short in any way, it is in occasionally reviving clichés of women’s biography that involve romance. Rubio suggests that Montgomery’s “’gift of wings’ had finally enabled her to take flight, thanks to the astonishing effect of the dimpled and rosy-cheeked Ewan” (119). She claims that Montgomery wrote her best books, Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, only when she was in love—either with her husband, the Reverend Ewan Macdonald, or possibly with Captain Edwin Smith. The old argument about a necessary relationship between romance and creativity for women writers has long been debunked by feminist criticism, and it seems especially reductive in the case of an author as prolific and talented as Montgomery"
"Rubio’s The Gift of Wings is not the first biography of Montgomery, but it is the most detailed and authoritative one to date. Montgomery penned her own brief memoir, The Alpine Path, which originated in 1917 as a series of articles for Everywoman’s World. Mollie Gillen’s The Wheel of Things (1975) broke ground as the first modern biography of Montgomery, but it has been superseded by more recent research. In 1995, Waterston and Rubio collaborated on a short biography titled Writing a Life: L.M. Montgomery; that study, too, has been supplanted by The Gift of Wings. The figure that emerges from Rubio’s new biography is complex—ambitious and talented, but deeply troubled. In particular, Rubio does a fine job of detailing Montgomery’s hardships, including fights with her publishers, marital troubles, reliance on prescription drugs, and despair over the decline in her prestige as literary tastes shifted away from fiction of “local color” and sentiment, with the rise of modernism.
One of the most valuable aspects of Rubio’s biography is its inclusion of interviews with people who knew Montgomery—her children, her maids, and her admirers. The inspiration for this project originated from an interview with Montgomery’s son, Dr. E. Stuart Macdonald, who informed Rubio that his mother was not the “ideal mother” present in her fiction—the maternal figure with a wonderful sense of humor and a tolerant appreciation of humanity—that Rubio had assumed her to be, but instead a rigid and touchy character who “prevented any easy camaraderie in the family” (5). It was Stuart Macdonald who requested that Rubio write this biography and who authorized its honest, if not always flattering, portrait of his mother’s life. He did so hoping that the biography would serve an educative function: if readers knew the truth about Montgomery, they might learn from her mistakes.
One such “mistake” was a rumored extramarital affair. Rubio makes the provocative claim that Montgomery may have had an adulterous liaison with Captain Edwin Smith. She includes an interview with Montgomery’s cantankerous maid, Lily, who attests to the romance, whispering conspiratorially, “He was her boyfriend” (268). Of course, this information raises questions about the reliability of its source, but the existence of such gossip says much about Montgomery’s complex relations with the people in her community. Her social interactions were often fraught, and Rubio does a fine job of illuminating two such problematic relationships—a fight with a local man, Marshall Pickering, that led to a bitter lawsuit, and an ill-fated friendship with an obsessed fan, Isabel Anderson.
Rubio is particularly impressive not only when discussing Montgomery’s journals, but when reconstructing periods of Montgomery’s life for which journal entries are scant. Her biography builds on the work of Irene Gammel who, in The Intimate Life of L.M. Montgomery (2005), established the importance of life-writing for Montgomery “as a self-consciously literary and artistic genre”; as Gammel has said, “theories of autobiography and life writing are crucial in examining the extent to which she managed to achieve a sense of agency for herself in composing her self-portraits in journals, letters, autobiography, and photography” (4-5). Like Gammel, Rubio contends that the journal entries are not so much records of fact as they are performative, deliberate artistic creations. She speculates that Montgomery created two personae in her journal entries: one, a persecuted, alienated, sensitive writer-figure; the other, a relatively happy, socialable individual (276). Rubio claims that these carefully cultivated personae emerged as Montgomery began to recopy and edit her journals: “Real life is untidy, unshaped, with loose ends. Her journals have no loose ends, no pointless stories, no catalogues of the boring effluvia of life, no people of importance to her narrative who have not been introduced. Each descriptive or narrative unit always becomes part of an unified whole” (274). Montgomery, the consummate storyteller, may have scripted her life writings, just as she outlined the plots of her novels.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of this new biography is the inclusion of what may be Montgomery’s suicide note, released by the author’s heirs for the first time in 2008. Rubio provides a persuasive reading of the document, disputing that it is a suicide note and asserting instead that it is merely a page of “grumbles” from her journals. Montgomery’s name for her journal was her “grumble book,” and she viewed it as a safe space to air her frequent disappointments and grievances. Rubio looks to the number on the suicide note, 176, as evidence of its being merely a page from her journals, which she always numbered. The other 175 pages of this journal are missing, which makes the appearance of the “suicide note” all the more mysterious. Rubio also speculates as to how and why these pages may have disappeared, concluding that Montgomery’s disreputable son, Chester, may have stolen them in an effort to hide his mother’s strong disapproval of his behavior and to secure inclusion in her will. The new research in this biography also reveals Montgomery’s possible addiction to prescription barbiturates. Given Montgomery’s depressed state of mind, her dependency on drugs, and her weakened central nervous system, an unintentional overdose was, as Rubio proposes, just as likely the cause of death as a suicide. However, no one knows the truth, and such information about Montgomery’s life is guaranteed to engender new controversy.
If Lucy Maud Montgomery falls short in any way, it is in occasionally reviving clichés of women’s biography that involve romance. Rubio suggests that Montgomery’s “’gift of wings’ had finally enabled her to take flight, thanks to the astonishing effect of the dimpled and rosy-cheeked Ewan” (119). She claims that Montgomery wrote her best books, Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, only when she was in love—either with her husband, the Reverend Ewan Macdonald, or possibly with Captain Edwin Smith. The old argument about a necessary relationship between romance and creativity for women writers has long been debunked by feminist criticism, and it seems especially reductive in the case of an author as prolific and talented as Montgomery"
June 3, 2023
I love a good, thorough biography, where the author delves deeply into the life of the subject, digging into records and cross references and all kinds of primary sources. What I like most is the feeling of puzzling out the mystery that is the person: what were they REALLY like?
The author of Lucy Maud Montgomery's bio has spent much of her career untangling the threads of Montgomery's life, and knows her subject pretty much as well as anyone could who never met her. Not only has she studied Montgomery extensively, she has taken time to get to know all the main influential characters in "Maud's" life.
The result is a well rounded picture of a woman who was publicly kind, cheerful, funny, and devout, but who inwardly struggled with many private demons... and who vented her critical spirit to her journal alone.
And mysteries remain. Why did Maud describe her husband in her journals as displaying various symptoms of mental illness, while no one else who knew him ever saw him as being out of his mind or insane in any way? Did she just hide his episodes that well, so no one ever knew? And WHAT did Chester do all those times she described his actions as being too awful to tell, even to her journal?
So despite the length of the novel, not all threads get untangled, and not all questions are answered. But I guess everyone has their secrets that they take to the grave and we can never truly know another person, especially vicariously through a book.
I do wish that in the process of her attempts to sift through the truth of Montgomery's life, that the author had set aside some of her own presuppositions or even conclusions, and just let the facts and words speak for themselves. There is a great deal of interpretation in this novel as the author herself attempts to solve the puzzle that is L M Montgomery. I would prefer less editorializing. The book could have been significantly shorter if she had just stuck to the facts and the historic record. 😆
Also, while the book goes chronologically through her life, there are lots of detours, rabbit trails, and pit stops along the way, so it's not a smooth ride. Some repetition as well. And in one case at least, a person affiliated with Maud is introduced casually and mentioned offhand, but a hundred or so pages later after you've already forgotten their name, it turns out they were an incredibly important person to Maud and the relationship, however brief, profoundly affected her the rest of her life. Very few words are given to this relationship, but it's obvious there was more the biographer could have shared if she chose. Why did that not get more print space?
In short (this review is almost as long as the book!), this biography is long but an enjoyable read, although I feel like the length could have been more responsibly used to create an even more compelling narrative of Montgomery's life.
If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables, read this book!
The author of Lucy Maud Montgomery's bio has spent much of her career untangling the threads of Montgomery's life, and knows her subject pretty much as well as anyone could who never met her. Not only has she studied Montgomery extensively, she has taken time to get to know all the main influential characters in "Maud's" life.
The result is a well rounded picture of a woman who was publicly kind, cheerful, funny, and devout, but who inwardly struggled with many private demons... and who vented her critical spirit to her journal alone.
And mysteries remain. Why did Maud describe her husband in her journals as displaying various symptoms of mental illness, while no one else who knew him ever saw him as being out of his mind or insane in any way? Did she just hide his episodes that well, so no one ever knew? And WHAT did Chester do all those times she described his actions as being too awful to tell, even to her journal?
So despite the length of the novel, not all threads get untangled, and not all questions are answered. But I guess everyone has their secrets that they take to the grave and we can never truly know another person, especially vicariously through a book.
I do wish that in the process of her attempts to sift through the truth of Montgomery's life, that the author had set aside some of her own presuppositions or even conclusions, and just let the facts and words speak for themselves. There is a great deal of interpretation in this novel as the author herself attempts to solve the puzzle that is L M Montgomery. I would prefer less editorializing. The book could have been significantly shorter if she had just stuck to the facts and the historic record. 😆
Also, while the book goes chronologically through her life, there are lots of detours, rabbit trails, and pit stops along the way, so it's not a smooth ride. Some repetition as well. And in one case at least, a person affiliated with Maud is introduced casually and mentioned offhand, but a hundred or so pages later after you've already forgotten their name, it turns out they were an incredibly important person to Maud and the relationship, however brief, profoundly affected her the rest of her life. Very few words are given to this relationship, but it's obvious there was more the biographer could have shared if she chose. Why did that not get more print space?
In short (this review is almost as long as the book!), this biography is long but an enjoyable read, although I feel like the length could have been more responsibly used to create an even more compelling narrative of Montgomery's life.
If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables, read this book!
December 12, 2021
I am not usually a reader of non-fiction or biographies, so I can't compare the writing or method. I was, however, fascinated by the detailed story of such an extraordinary woman. I knew much of it already, I also knew very little. I enjoyed the historical and cultural aspects connected to the events of her life and how they shaped her as the woman she became, as well as the stories she wrote. In the end, such a sad and tragic life, including how her books have become, even in her own lifetime, relegated to the status of "girls' books".
July 25, 2023
Kim była autorka Ani z Zielonego Wzgórza? Pisarką sentymentalną? Pisarką dla dzieci? Wykształconą kobietą w czasach, gdy edukacja była uważana za szkodliwą dla kobiet? Zaangażowaną żoną pastora i matką dwóch synów?
Na dwa z tych pytań po lekturze bogatej biografii „Maud Mongomery. Uskrzydlona” Mary Henley Rubio na pewno można odpowiedzieć przecząco, bo jej powieści trafiają nie tylko do dziecięcych serc sławiąc literaturę kanadyjską na cały świat, a mimo ukazywania w nich w dużej mierze słonecznej strony życia, sentymentalizmu z pewnością nie można jej zarzucić.
Kim jednak tak naprawdę była? Jak wiele czerpała z życia w swojej twórczości?
Autorka biografii Maud w ciągu niemal trzydziestu lat poświęconych jej życiu i twórczości oddaje w nasze ręce dzieło niesamowicie obszerne i interesujące. Dużo pełniejsze niż dziesięć dzienników prowadzonych przez Maud celem wydania po jej śmierci, które siłą rzeczy są subiektywnym i jednostronnym obrazem jej życia i myślę, że powinno się patrzeć na nie raczej jak na kolejne z jej dzieł literackich. Rubio weryfikuje zawarte w nich informacje w dostępnych źródłach, artykułach, listach i wspomnieniach, uzupełniając wieloma zdjęciami, które bardzo wzbogacają odbiór.
Z biografii wyłania się obraz kobiety, postrzeganej jako osoba radosna, energiczna, zaangażowana społecznie, zawsze pomocna i odnosząca spektakularny sukces, ale skrywającej za zamkniętymi drzwiami problemy małżeńskie, rodzicielskie i własną depresję. O wielu faktach czytałam ze smutkiem i ściśniętym sercem, o innych, jak choćby o wieloletniej walce w sądach z nieuczciwym wydawcą z autentycznym wzburzeniem.
"Żyła, by pisać i pisała, by żyć."
Ucieczka w świat fantazji była jej mechanizmem obronnym, a pisanie dawało jej najwięcej szczęścia. Rubio daje nam możliwość szczegółowego wglądu w poszczególne etapy jej życia, zachodzące w tle zmiany społeczne, polityczne i gospodarcze i wpływ jaki mały na kolejne tworzone przez nią powieści. Rozdźwięk pomiędzy trudami jej życia a podnoszącym na duchu optymizmem płynącym z jej książek niejednokrotnie mnie szokował i budził podziw dla jej niezłomności i determinacji.
Wiele mogłabym jeszcze napisać, ale tę biografię po prostu trzeba przeczytać. Niech nie zrażą Was jej gabaryty, bo każda minuta z nią spędzona jest tego warta. I z pewnością po jej lekturze zapragniecie wrócić ponownie do światów Ani, Emilii, czy Rilli odkrywając w nich dużo więcej niż dotychczas.
Na dwa z tych pytań po lekturze bogatej biografii „Maud Mongomery. Uskrzydlona” Mary Henley Rubio na pewno można odpowiedzieć przecząco, bo jej powieści trafiają nie tylko do dziecięcych serc sławiąc literaturę kanadyjską na cały świat, a mimo ukazywania w nich w dużej mierze słonecznej strony życia, sentymentalizmu z pewnością nie można jej zarzucić.
Kim jednak tak naprawdę była? Jak wiele czerpała z życia w swojej twórczości?
Autorka biografii Maud w ciągu niemal trzydziestu lat poświęconych jej życiu i twórczości oddaje w nasze ręce dzieło niesamowicie obszerne i interesujące. Dużo pełniejsze niż dziesięć dzienników prowadzonych przez Maud celem wydania po jej śmierci, które siłą rzeczy są subiektywnym i jednostronnym obrazem jej życia i myślę, że powinno się patrzeć na nie raczej jak na kolejne z jej dzieł literackich. Rubio weryfikuje zawarte w nich informacje w dostępnych źródłach, artykułach, listach i wspomnieniach, uzupełniając wieloma zdjęciami, które bardzo wzbogacają odbiór.
Z biografii wyłania się obraz kobiety, postrzeganej jako osoba radosna, energiczna, zaangażowana społecznie, zawsze pomocna i odnosząca spektakularny sukces, ale skrywającej za zamkniętymi drzwiami problemy małżeńskie, rodzicielskie i własną depresję. O wielu faktach czytałam ze smutkiem i ściśniętym sercem, o innych, jak choćby o wieloletniej walce w sądach z nieuczciwym wydawcą z autentycznym wzburzeniem.
"Żyła, by pisać i pisała, by żyć."
Ucieczka w świat fantazji była jej mechanizmem obronnym, a pisanie dawało jej najwięcej szczęścia. Rubio daje nam możliwość szczegółowego wglądu w poszczególne etapy jej życia, zachodzące w tle zmiany społeczne, polityczne i gospodarcze i wpływ jaki mały na kolejne tworzone przez nią powieści. Rozdźwięk pomiędzy trudami jej życia a podnoszącym na duchu optymizmem płynącym z jej książek niejednokrotnie mnie szokował i budził podziw dla jej niezłomności i determinacji.
Wiele mogłabym jeszcze napisać, ale tę biografię po prostu trzeba przeczytać. Niech nie zrażą Was jej gabaryty, bo każda minuta z nią spędzona jest tego warta. I z pewnością po jej lekturze zapragniecie wrócić ponownie do światów Ani, Emilii, czy Rilli odkrywając w nich dużo więcej niż dotychczas.
Want to read
January 15, 2010Melissa recommends:
Though not for the faint of heart (the size alone is enough to scare plenty of people off), this is one heck of a biography.
I admit it: I've been reading books by and about Montgomery since elementary school. I am a Big Fan. So, when I picked this book up, I was expecting a well-written, thorough biography, but I wasn't really expecting to learn anything new. Oops. I have new respect for LMM's grandmother, more sympathy for Ewan, can never look at my Page editions of her books the same way again, and am seriouscly scared by her son, Chester. Even more powerfully, though I've "known" her story for years, the bio is a page turner. Rubio sets the scenes beautifully and provides the kind of context that few biographies do. It's more than just a life story, it's social history.
A few minor quibbles--there were times where I felt like Rubio was trying too hard to prove a point (listing every letter that relates to a certain thing), and there were a few weird typos/editing issues.
Highly recommend for Montgomery fans or anyone interested in women writers.
Though not for the faint of heart (the size alone is enough to scare plenty of people off), this is one heck of a biography.
I admit it: I've been reading books by and about Montgomery since elementary school. I am a Big Fan. So, when I picked this book up, I was expecting a well-written, thorough biography, but I wasn't really expecting to learn anything new. Oops. I have new respect for LMM's grandmother, more sympathy for Ewan, can never look at my Page editions of her books the same way again, and am seriouscly scared by her son, Chester. Even more powerfully, though I've "known" her story for years, the bio is a page turner. Rubio sets the scenes beautifully and provides the kind of context that few biographies do. It's more than just a life story, it's social history.
A few minor quibbles--there were times where I felt like Rubio was trying too hard to prove a point (listing every letter that relates to a certain thing), and there were a few weird typos/editing issues.
Highly recommend for Montgomery fans or anyone interested in women writers.
Want to read
October 18, 2008I have just ordered this from Amazon Canada as it is not available yet at Amazon US. This is the long awaited biography, long in the making and longer in anticipation.
Maud Montgomery is my favorite authoress-storyteller.
She was a prolific Canadian writer and world famous with her publication of "Anne of Green Gables" in the early 1900's. Because her works are of a buoyantand uplifting nature, it was a great shock to learn that her life was a burden of tragedies from end to end.
Did Maud end her own life by an overdose of drugs at the age of 68?
It seems that in this book we are to get the facts but will have to draw our own conclusions.
I am just hoping to gain a few more pieces of the puzzle.
Maud Montgomery is my favorite authoress-storyteller.
She was a prolific Canadian writer and world famous with her publication of "Anne of Green Gables" in the early 1900's. Because her works are of a buoyantand uplifting nature, it was a great shock to learn that her life was a burden of tragedies from end to end.
Did Maud end her own life by an overdose of drugs at the age of 68?
It seems that in this book we are to get the facts but will have to draw our own conclusions.
I am just hoping to gain a few more pieces of the puzzle.
June 21, 2010
This isn't as good as the biography I read before it (Hermione Lee's Virginia Woolf, which I think is going to be my gold standard for a while), but it's an admirable biography. Rubio co-edited Montgomery's journals for publication, and her in-depth knowledge of Montgomery provides an amazing level of detail and an ability to weigh the contents of Montgomery's journals (rewritten extensively by Montgomery to convey her preferred version of her life) with other sources to paint a fuller picture. Rubio's writing style isn't polished, and I wished she'd talked more about Montgomery's books, but those small weaknesses are more than outweighed by the book's strengths.
August 19, 2012
I really wanted to love this book. The story of Maud is so enlightening and the basis for what could have been a great book. The author was repetitive, meandering all over Maud's life and she drew inferences and conclusions that I felt were not entirely justified nor substantiated. The author has studied Maud's life for most of her own life, and I expected much more from her. The 600 pages could have been cut down easily to 250-300 pages without losing the essential content.
September 10, 2009
So sad....the author basically says that LMM took her own life and it was covered up so her children wouldn't be embarrassed with their own careers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2015
Whoooboy. This is one of the best biographies I've ever read, but did it send me into a downward spiral. After reading all of Maud's journals, I was determined to fill in the gaps. Rubio's account did not disappoint. Not only did she do some impressive detective work, interviewing old associates of Montgomery, but she adds her own astute observations about the writer throughout this account. Montgomery's incredible talent, wit and intelligence is counterbalanced with snobbery, denial and self-pity.
There's no doubt Lucy Maud Montgomery was dealt some terrible cards in life. It's heartbreaking to read about nasty relatives who treated her like a second-class citizen, a depressive husband who had no appreciation for her talent, and a manipulative son who has all the earmarks of a sociopath. Add to this a crippling addiction to barbiturates, which were prescribed to Montgomery by doctors who didn't understand the effects of these drugs on depression, I found myself crying for her several times. To Maud's great credit, she tried combating these problems through crafting her own novels, encouraging young writers, being a good friend and doing lots of great work for her church.
BUT. Her disdain for a nice girl her younger son dated seems totally out of step with the ideals she promoted on her books. Instead of assessing the girlfriend on the strength of her character, Maud heaps her with her derision for "living on North Street"(HORRORS!) and having the temerity to be the daughter of a bootlegger. Meanwhile, her own older son was busy stealing from maids, exposing himself to young women, and giving his wife VD. It's this kind of cognitive dissonance that kept me shaking my head in utter bewilderment throughout the whole book. Although she repeatedly expresses despair over her older son's antisocial ways, Maud enjoyed a bond with him that had tinges of incest.
I mean, I don't know about you, but if I were shelling out big bucks for my son to go to law school, despite his refusal to study and attend classes, I don't think I would spend my free time lying in bed with him, stroking his hair, and murmuring endearments into his ear. But I'm a little like Rachel Lynde in that way...totally judgmental.
I do disagree with Rubio on one point. I found LMM's 40-page discourse on the death of her cat Lucky TOTALLY understandable and one of the most compelling parts of her journals.
The Gift of Wings is a phenomenal work that is informative, entertaining and thought-provoking. I am so impressed with Mary Henley Rubio's research and insight. Her compassion, along with an insistence to presenting an objective picture of all the characters involved, made this an illuminating read. But, oh, my God. The sorrow, pathos and anxiety described in these pages brought me to my knees. I fervently hope the author has a great therapist, as well as a 24-hour liquor store within walking distance of her home. Because writing the story of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life would have been enough for Anne of Green Gables to puncture her puffed sleeves, poison her kindred spirits and become an utter nihilist.
There's no doubt Lucy Maud Montgomery was dealt some terrible cards in life. It's heartbreaking to read about nasty relatives who treated her like a second-class citizen, a depressive husband who had no appreciation for her talent, and a manipulative son who has all the earmarks of a sociopath. Add to this a crippling addiction to barbiturates, which were prescribed to Montgomery by doctors who didn't understand the effects of these drugs on depression, I found myself crying for her several times. To Maud's great credit, she tried combating these problems through crafting her own novels, encouraging young writers, being a good friend and doing lots of great work for her church.
BUT. Her disdain for a nice girl her younger son dated seems totally out of step with the ideals she promoted on her books. Instead of assessing the girlfriend on the strength of her character, Maud heaps her with her derision for "living on North Street"(HORRORS!) and having the temerity to be the daughter of a bootlegger. Meanwhile, her own older son was busy stealing from maids, exposing himself to young women, and giving his wife VD. It's this kind of cognitive dissonance that kept me shaking my head in utter bewilderment throughout the whole book. Although she repeatedly expresses despair over her older son's antisocial ways, Maud enjoyed a bond with him that had tinges of incest.
I mean, I don't know about you, but if I were shelling out big bucks for my son to go to law school, despite his refusal to study and attend classes, I don't think I would spend my free time lying in bed with him, stroking his hair, and murmuring endearments into his ear. But I'm a little like Rachel Lynde in that way...totally judgmental.
I do disagree with Rubio on one point. I found LMM's 40-page discourse on the death of her cat Lucky TOTALLY understandable and one of the most compelling parts of her journals.
The Gift of Wings is a phenomenal work that is informative, entertaining and thought-provoking. I am so impressed with Mary Henley Rubio's research and insight. Her compassion, along with an insistence to presenting an objective picture of all the characters involved, made this an illuminating read. But, oh, my God. The sorrow, pathos and anxiety described in these pages brought me to my knees. I fervently hope the author has a great therapist, as well as a 24-hour liquor store within walking distance of her home. Because writing the story of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life would have been enough for Anne of Green Gables to puncture her puffed sleeves, poison her kindred spirits and become an utter nihilist.
January 24, 2009
This is an amazing biography about LM Montgomery. It is well-written and unbelievably well researched. But it is so sad! I felt haunted and disturbed by her story for at least two days after I finished this book. Ironically, even though Maud Montgomery was a dutiful and active minister's wife, she never once seemed to give a thought to the fact that the faith she served for so long might hold some truth, or comfort in the face of the misery she lived with. Mary Henley Rubio did an amazing job of portraying the whole of Montgomery's character, both good and less good. I also really appreciated the Epilogue which told what became of some of the main people who had affected Montgomery's life.
June 7, 2018
This was a well researched and informative book on the life of L.M. Montgomery. It was fascinating to read all of the things she was going through while writing some of her most beloved books. She lived a tough and heartbreaking life. The issues I did have with the book though were some things the author seemed to try to really sensationalize and when talking about the books themselves, spoilers were given. Which was unexpected and a bummer considering I have not read all of the books yet. I also felt at times there was too much unnecessary background information given.
February 3, 2010
I have read all of the published journals of L.M. Montgomery, and I wanted to know more of the back story. This book delivers. So many of the questions that I had were answered about the people in Maud's life.I hated for this book to end! The end of Maud's life was truly sad and brought tears to my eyes.
For any one that wants to know more about Lucy Maud Montgomery, this is a must read.
For any one that wants to know more about Lucy Maud Montgomery, this is a must read.
Read
September 20, 2009Very thorough, very well written and interesting rendering of an extremely depressing and disappointed life. I recommend this one highly. Just take your antidepressants first.
April 18, 2016
Engaging from beginning to end. But I think she defends Ewan too much.
June 7, 2018
This was an outstanding and well researched biography of LMM. However, I have two issues with this book:
1. I read this with my friend Jamie and she has not read all of LMM's books yet and the author gave spoilers to ALL LMM's books! It was okay for me because I have read them all but it annoyed me for Jamie's sake and for all the other people out there who may read this bio and may not have read all LMM's books.
2. I did not like how the author tried to make sensationalize (and I'm stealing this word from my friend Jamie's review) so many aspects of LMM's life. She tried to make it like LMM has a very complex and complicated inner emotional life etc. That she was an abuser of drugs. Wrong-- she was human and she was doing the best she could given the time period and the medications available.
1. I read this with my friend Jamie and she has not read all of LMM's books yet and the author gave spoilers to ALL LMM's books! It was okay for me because I have read them all but it annoyed me for Jamie's sake and for all the other people out there who may read this bio and may not have read all LMM's books.
2. I did not like how the author tried to make sensationalize (and I'm stealing this word from my friend Jamie's review) so many aspects of LMM's life. She tried to make it like LMM has a very complex and complicated inner emotional life etc. That she was an abuser of drugs. Wrong-- she was human and she was doing the best she could given the time period and the medications available.
July 10, 2025
3,75⭐️
Biografia całościowo bardzo mi się podobała. Cieszę się, że mogłam poznać życie autorki książek, które tak bardzo uwielbiam. Podziwiam wkład jaki autorka biografii musiała włożyć w znalezienie wszytskich informacji (które są bardzo szczegółowe i rzetelne) oraz spisanie ich w całość. Z rzeczy, które mniej mi się podobały to:
- powtarzanie przez autorkę tych samych informacji, czasem nawet kilka krotnie w obrębie paru stron,
- niepotrzebne długie/dogłębne opisy pobocznych osób,
- zawieranie spoilerów przy opisach książek Maud (rozumiem zamysł tego zabiegu, autorka chciała pokazać powiązania między wydarzeniami w książkach, a życiem osobistym Maud, jednak wolałabym, żeby było przed takimi fragmentami jakieś ostrzeżenie o zawieraniu spoilerów).
Biografia całościowo bardzo mi się podobała. Cieszę się, że mogłam poznać życie autorki książek, które tak bardzo uwielbiam. Podziwiam wkład jaki autorka biografii musiała włożyć w znalezienie wszytskich informacji (które są bardzo szczegółowe i rzetelne) oraz spisanie ich w całość. Z rzeczy, które mniej mi się podobały to:
- powtarzanie przez autorkę tych samych informacji, czasem nawet kilka krotnie w obrębie paru stron,
- niepotrzebne długie/dogłębne opisy pobocznych osób,
- zawieranie spoilerów przy opisach książek Maud (rozumiem zamysł tego zabiegu, autorka chciała pokazać powiązania między wydarzeniami w książkach, a życiem osobistym Maud, jednak wolałabym, żeby było przed takimi fragmentami jakieś ostrzeżenie o zawieraniu spoilerów).
February 11, 2023
A very thorough biography of this famous author. In fact, after reading this biography, I wanted to reread "Ann of Green Gables', as she puts a lot of her own story in Anne's story. But there is a lot of sadness in her personal life: a husband who suffered from depression, one wonderful son but another who was very beguiling, a liar and a thief, and was lazy, would not exert effort in his studies. She was very codependent with this son, and this son caused her a lot of grief. Plus a publisher who also cheated her mainly because she was not careful with the business-end of her writing and books.
October 9, 2023
Maud stała mi się bardzo bliska podczas czytania tej prawie 700-stronicowej książki o jej życiu. Jest pokrewną duszą ze wszystkimi jej wadami i zaletami. Nie dziwię się, że praca nad tą biografią zajęła 20 lat, bo jest to ogrom informacji i wydarzeń przekazanych w bardzo rzetelny, obiektywny sposób. A sama pisarka nie ułatwiała tego zadania, bo jeszcze za swojego życia przepisywała swoje pamiętniki i odpowiednio je "ceznurowała", dużo bolesnych spraw przemilczała, inne sytuacje może trochę przesadziła.
Niezwykłe jest to, że tak ciepłe, pełne nadziei książki, które od ponad stu lat ogrzewają serca czytelników - stworzyła kobieta, która tak wiele wycierpiała w życiu, ale też potrafiła przywdziewać maski. W towarzystwie brylowała, była bardzo dobra w występach publicznych, zawsze sprawiała wrażenie osoby bardzo ciepłej, zabawnej i pełnej uroku, ale jej życie prywatne już nie było takie kolorowe. W swoich pamiętnikach znajdowała ujście dla emocji, których nie mogła pokazać publicznie, ale też miała świadomość, że mogą zostać opublikowane po jej śmierci, więc się "hamowała", albo właśnie cenzurowała przy przepisywaniu.
Niezwykle trudno było czytać ostatnią część książki. Nie tylko w jej prywatnym życiu źle się działo, ale też po wojnie nastały inne literacko czasy i jej książki były spychane do rangi "sentymentalnych książek dla dzieci lub kobiet", co ją niezwykle irytowało i smuciło, bo nie po to tworzyła nowoczesne jak na swoje czasy bohaterki, żeby były one umniejszane (przez mężczyzn oczywiście).
Wzruszyło mnie też to jak wielkim była wsparciem dla młodych autorów i jak bardzo wierzyła w to, że literatura, żeby być prawdziwą nie musi opowiadać tylko o brudzie, złu tego świata i beznadziei, że ważne jest to światełko w tunelu.
Mam bardzo dużo myśli i zaznaczonych cytatów po czytaniu tej książki i wiem, że zostanie ze mną na długo.
Niezwykłe jest to, że tak ciepłe, pełne nadziei książki, które od ponad stu lat ogrzewają serca czytelników - stworzyła kobieta, która tak wiele wycierpiała w życiu, ale też potrafiła przywdziewać maski. W towarzystwie brylowała, była bardzo dobra w występach publicznych, zawsze sprawiała wrażenie osoby bardzo ciepłej, zabawnej i pełnej uroku, ale jej życie prywatne już nie było takie kolorowe. W swoich pamiętnikach znajdowała ujście dla emocji, których nie mogła pokazać publicznie, ale też miała świadomość, że mogą zostać opublikowane po jej śmierci, więc się "hamowała", albo właśnie cenzurowała przy przepisywaniu.
Niezwykle trudno było czytać ostatnią część książki. Nie tylko w jej prywatnym życiu źle się działo, ale też po wojnie nastały inne literacko czasy i jej książki były spychane do rangi "sentymentalnych książek dla dzieci lub kobiet", co ją niezwykle irytowało i smuciło, bo nie po to tworzyła nowoczesne jak na swoje czasy bohaterki, żeby były one umniejszane (przez mężczyzn oczywiście).
Wzruszyło mnie też to jak wielkim była wsparciem dla młodych autorów i jak bardzo wierzyła w to, że literatura, żeby być prawdziwą nie musi opowiadać tylko o brudzie, złu tego świata i beznadziei, że ważne jest to światełko w tunelu.
Mam bardzo dużo myśli i zaznaczonych cytatów po czytaniu tej książki i wiem, że zostanie ze mną na długo.
January 17, 2023
I didn't realize that L.M. Montgomery had such a turbulent and troubled life. You don't get that from her novels. Reading this biography made me think of the place of the author in the world and the amount of personal experience that the different authors allow to seep into their writing. L.M. Montgomery is an example of an author whose writing is much happier than her life. It seems as though she used her writing to escape into a better world where there's much less suffering.
I didn't know that Montgomery wrote such detailed diaries and that she edited them so extensively. Tells a lot about her as a person. She could have written three times as many books if she had spent more time writing novels instead of fighting her illness, worrying about her husband and elder son, and participating in the endless social events.
Rubio did a suburb job researching Montgomery's life and writing a highly readable biography. Highly recommended to all Montgomery fans.
I didn't know that Montgomery wrote such detailed diaries and that she edited them so extensively. Tells a lot about her as a person. She could have written three times as many books if she had spent more time writing novels instead of fighting her illness, worrying about her husband and elder son, and participating in the endless social events.
Rubio did a suburb job researching Montgomery's life and writing a highly readable biography. Highly recommended to all Montgomery fans.
Read
July 29, 2010I'm reading this before handing it off to my daughter. We've both read the journals many times over, and discussed them endlessly. It is a relief to have some of the lacunae filled in, but at the same time there is a surprising sketchiness about portions of LMM's life that surprises me, and then a lot of dull repetitions of stuff like lists of earnings, etc, that could as well have been relegated to the small print in an appendix.
That aside, Rubio is one of the scholars most familiar with LMM's material and the setting, so this is as good as we are going to get for now. But like Dean King's and Nikolai Tolstoy's biographies of Patrick O'Brian, it leaves a thirst for the depth of treatment that the subject deserves.
That aside, Rubio is one of the scholars most familiar with LMM's material and the setting, so this is as good as we are going to get for now. But like Dean King's and Nikolai Tolstoy's biographies of Patrick O'Brian, it leaves a thirst for the depth of treatment that the subject deserves.
August 12, 2013
Do not read this book if you want to stay positive about LMM's life. I had read her diaries and thought I knew what to expect, but she, of course, didn't tell us how awful her son Chester was. The details of her husband's illness weren't a lot different from the diaries, except for explanations of the condition as we understand it today. We found out a lot more about all the drugs that both McDonalds were taking and more details on the dreadful lawsuits that they had to suffer through. I thought Rubio made a lot of assumptions and connections in LMM's life that she probably shouldn't have, but her research was very thorough. I was happy to meet people from Maud's life that I didn't get a big picture of before.
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