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After Anne
A stunning and unexpected portrait of Lucy Maud Montgomery, creator of one of literature's most prized heroines, whose personal demons were at odds with her most enduring legacy--the irrepressible Anne of Green Gables.
"Dear old world," she murmured, "you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you." --L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908
As a young woman, Maud had dreams bigger than the whole of Prince Edward Island. Her exuberant spirit had always drawn frowns from her grandmother and their neighbors, but she knew she was meant to create, to capture and share the way she saw the world. And the young girl in Maud's mind became more and more Here is my story, she said. Here is how my name should be spelled--Anne with an "e."
But the day Maud writes the first lines of Anne of Green Gables, she gets a visit from the handsome new minister in town, and soon faces a forge her own path as a spinster authoress, or live as a rural minister's wife, an existence she once likened to "a respectable form of slavery." The choice she makes alters the course of her life.
With a husband whose religious mania threatens their health and happiness at every turn, the secret darkness that Maud herself holds inside threatens to break through the persona she shows to the world, driving an ever-widening wedge between her public face and private self, and putting her on a path towards a heartbreaking end.
Beautiful and moving, After Anne reveals Maud's hidden personal challenges while celebrating what was timeless about her life and art--the importance of tenacity and the peaceful refuge found in imagination.
"Dear old world," she murmured, "you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you." --L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908
As a young woman, Maud had dreams bigger than the whole of Prince Edward Island. Her exuberant spirit had always drawn frowns from her grandmother and their neighbors, but she knew she was meant to create, to capture and share the way she saw the world. And the young girl in Maud's mind became more and more Here is my story, she said. Here is how my name should be spelled--Anne with an "e."
But the day Maud writes the first lines of Anne of Green Gables, she gets a visit from the handsome new minister in town, and soon faces a forge her own path as a spinster authoress, or live as a rural minister's wife, an existence she once likened to "a respectable form of slavery." The choice she makes alters the course of her life.
With a husband whose religious mania threatens their health and happiness at every turn, the secret darkness that Maud herself holds inside threatens to break through the persona she shows to the world, driving an ever-widening wedge between her public face and private self, and putting her on a path towards a heartbreaking end.
Beautiful and moving, After Anne reveals Maud's hidden personal challenges while celebrating what was timeless about her life and art--the importance of tenacity and the peaceful refuge found in imagination.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 30, 2023
262 people are currently reading
9358 people want to read
About the author
Logan Steiner
1 book119 followersLogan is a lawyer by day and a writer by baby bedtime. Her writing explores motherhood and the creative life. Logan's debut novel AFTER ANNE will be released on May 30, 2023 by HarperCollins. For fans of Anne of Green Gables and fans of complex, creative women, the novel tells the life story of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Logan also writes a newsletter on Substack called The Creative Sort.
After graduating from Pomona College and Harvard Law School, Logan clerked for three federal judges, spent six years in Big Law, and served for three years as an Assistant United States Attorney. She now specializes in brief writing at a boutique law firm.
Logan lives in Denver with her husband, daughter, and the cranky old man of the house, a Russian Blue cat named Taggart.
After graduating from Pomona College and Harvard Law School, Logan clerked for three federal judges, spent six years in Big Law, and served for three years as an Assistant United States Attorney. She now specializes in brief writing at a boutique law firm.
Logan lives in Denver with her husband, daughter, and the cranky old man of the house, a Russian Blue cat named Taggart.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews
February 21, 2023
Logan Steiner’s divinely impressive debut novel got inside my soul like a rose with its thorns and pricked my heart over and over as it made me feel Lucy Maud Montgomery’s deep and distressing anguish. The Prince Edward Island author of the famous Anne of Green Gables inspired many readers and writers, including myself with her vivid descriptions, quirky characters and insightful clever phrases. I have not only read her stories, poems and journals and received much joy and food for thought from them but I have also lingered on the passages in After Anne that made me aware of this woman’s pain and suffering.
Logan Steiner has done incredibly well weaving Maud and her words together into a tremendous cohesive work to give us an authentic feel of what life may have been like for this gifted woman. Anne became the voice of hope, dreams and advice when Maud needed it. Yes, her own character Anne of Green Gables kept whispering in her ear like a conscience, a guide, a reminder of the good things she loved. Including her walks in the forest—her cathedral of faith—where she felt closest to God. And I can relate to that. Sadly, when Maud moved away from her beloved island— her soul faltered, her courage shrivelled and her strength faded as she was now cut off from her life source. Even still, she revisited those areas of passion in her writing. In many ways it was her great escape—and she was always trying to get back there where her imagination knew kindred spirits existed, where relationships played out, where dreams were exercised and deep desires achieved—replacing the failures and emptiness of real life.
The seed of curiosity that moves with force through After Anne is the mystery of why Maud committed suicide. For she had stated in her younger years that it would not be something she’d choose. Logan explores the question: what would drive her to that end? After reading the novel, it is clear to see how it could happen.
After Anne made me think deeply. I knew that below the surface of Maud’s wit and wonder, was another story. Her life had been a difficult one. Losing her mother at twenty one months, and then being denied her father’s presence when he moved away to the prairies and remarried, would have affected her young mind. And on top of that, later in life she lost a child upon birth and her dearest ‘bosom’ friend to illness and then her husband to his depression. The latter particularly was a heavy burden to bear. As Logan reveals, Ewan’s battle with faith and himself had a monumental effect on her. It left deep marks in her own psyche for in many ways his mental disease infected her: especially once she succumbed to his medication.
As the trials and doubts magnified, the roller coaster of self-medicating skyrocketed. In many ways it became balm for her troubled soul—a way to feel disappointments less. It is easy to understand how hard it was for her to live with a severely depressed person. Positivity buoys the soul but negativity drags it down—even causes one to drown in its mirky dire depths. Despair is a state of mind—a heart emptied of hope.
Eventually, the voice of destruction proved louder as the medication altered Maud’s perceptions. Logan paints a realistic picture of how emotional sedation causes a person to not care anymore—about anything. And back then, they were using some powerful drugs to still the mind.
There are a number of chapters devoted to Maud’s destruction of her own writing documents. She had a fascination with fire and burning letters, journal notes, etc. The power it gave her may have been the attraction since she had little control over life. Her sense of responsibility to her grandmother and then to her husband, meant they were a silent and not so silence force behind her decision making.
Her husband, Ewan, was clearly not the best match for her. In After Anne, there is another man shown to be better suited who was not only physically attractive to her but who offered mental stimulation. Maud had an active mind that was sharp, imaginative, inquisitive and captivated by the natural world. She hungered for another to share the things she loved. Her husband did not and his ordinariness comes through in many passages of this novel and the realisation of it hits Maud hard at one point. Her own soul craved a kindred spirit and her lack of it in her marriage created a huge hole in her life that became an abyss. I felt such sadness for her. Some ask why did she marry him? Love is blind. A positive person, a writer, a dreamer might see more than is there for their mind may fill in the missing pieces with their own strengths. It is easy to do. And then there is duty. A very persistent mindset in Maud’s day that may have played upon her moral character.
Another area explored in this novel is one of the married female writer. Women authors may question whether their writing takes time away from their family. Yes, there are sacrifices and yes, marriage and children will compete with the Muse but it can be done. Maud, sadly began to wonder if she failed in this area and blamed herself when one of her children went awry. Chester had issues but should a mother blame herself for her children’s failures? Sometimes all the love and attention in the world is not enough. And children fail on their own terms. I believe even with all the best care possible, sometimes things can go wrong. The old nature versus nurture debate is never so cut and dry. Everyone will make mistakes but what we do with those mistakes makes all the difference. Do we learn and move forward or fall back into a circular destructive pattern?
And then the theme and importance of friendship present in Anne of Green Gables is also highlighted in After Anne. Especially in dealing with the errors we all will make on our journeys through life. A mistake is just a mistake, and a bosom friend would never blame you for it. Or else she isn’t much of a bosom friend. Did Maud make some mistakes in her life? Did she have a bosom friend who understood her and loved her warts and all? Maud found her intimate friend in cousin Frede—a kindred spirit that she was able to confide in without worry of what her friend would think. Of course, there were moments of doubt but Maud realised she was trying to hide from her own mistakes and that her friend would never judge her.
These are just a small number of issues expressed in this novel. It is filled with many nuggets of truth and wisdom. Maud’s life, her friendships, her imaginative realm as a writer and her married life are explored beautifully, thoughtfully and with reverence.
This is a story, with fact intertwined with fiction. A highly imagined account of the spaces between that have been a mystery. It is based on a portion of Maud’s life, her marriage and her end and what may have driven her to suicide. Maud was an author who edited and re-edited her personal journals like her novels to protect, preserve or please herself. After Anne delves into the mind, actions and words of a woman who gave so much joy to others but whose own life was rife with sorrow. Fire was part of her editing process. Did it give her the liberty she desired? We don’t know. But Logan fills in the might-have-been and the maybes. And her use of Maud’s thirty-third birthday is a genius move into the past: a focal point to keep going back to. There is hope that Maud in her last hours may have remembered this special day. Logan Steiner states that the birthday event is her own invention but I think it is a clever and insightful one that draws us back over and over to a possible moment in time of Maud’s happiness.
This novel After Anne is an outstanding delivery and I highly recommend it for so many reasons. It will break your heart, make you smile and remind you what is important in life. It is a must read if you are an Anne of Green Gables fan. Even though it paints a possible picture of reality that bears much sadness and contrast to the author’s books, it does not take away from the great gift this author had: to inspire generations of readers who continue to escape into a world where anything is possible, where natural beauty is celebrated, where the unexpected happens and where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Love, family, hopes and dreams are at the core of Maud’s novels and demonstrated exquisitely in After Anne. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Many thanks to the author and her publisher for a review copy.
Logan Steiner has done incredibly well weaving Maud and her words together into a tremendous cohesive work to give us an authentic feel of what life may have been like for this gifted woman. Anne became the voice of hope, dreams and advice when Maud needed it. Yes, her own character Anne of Green Gables kept whispering in her ear like a conscience, a guide, a reminder of the good things she loved. Including her walks in the forest—her cathedral of faith—where she felt closest to God. And I can relate to that. Sadly, when Maud moved away from her beloved island— her soul faltered, her courage shrivelled and her strength faded as she was now cut off from her life source. Even still, she revisited those areas of passion in her writing. In many ways it was her great escape—and she was always trying to get back there where her imagination knew kindred spirits existed, where relationships played out, where dreams were exercised and deep desires achieved—replacing the failures and emptiness of real life.
The seed of curiosity that moves with force through After Anne is the mystery of why Maud committed suicide. For she had stated in her younger years that it would not be something she’d choose. Logan explores the question: what would drive her to that end? After reading the novel, it is clear to see how it could happen.
After Anne made me think deeply. I knew that below the surface of Maud’s wit and wonder, was another story. Her life had been a difficult one. Losing her mother at twenty one months, and then being denied her father’s presence when he moved away to the prairies and remarried, would have affected her young mind. And on top of that, later in life she lost a child upon birth and her dearest ‘bosom’ friend to illness and then her husband to his depression. The latter particularly was a heavy burden to bear. As Logan reveals, Ewan’s battle with faith and himself had a monumental effect on her. It left deep marks in her own psyche for in many ways his mental disease infected her: especially once she succumbed to his medication.
As the trials and doubts magnified, the roller coaster of self-medicating skyrocketed. In many ways it became balm for her troubled soul—a way to feel disappointments less. It is easy to understand how hard it was for her to live with a severely depressed person. Positivity buoys the soul but negativity drags it down—even causes one to drown in its mirky dire depths. Despair is a state of mind—a heart emptied of hope.
Eventually, the voice of destruction proved louder as the medication altered Maud’s perceptions. Logan paints a realistic picture of how emotional sedation causes a person to not care anymore—about anything. And back then, they were using some powerful drugs to still the mind.
There are a number of chapters devoted to Maud’s destruction of her own writing documents. She had a fascination with fire and burning letters, journal notes, etc. The power it gave her may have been the attraction since she had little control over life. Her sense of responsibility to her grandmother and then to her husband, meant they were a silent and not so silence force behind her decision making.
Her husband, Ewan, was clearly not the best match for her. In After Anne, there is another man shown to be better suited who was not only physically attractive to her but who offered mental stimulation. Maud had an active mind that was sharp, imaginative, inquisitive and captivated by the natural world. She hungered for another to share the things she loved. Her husband did not and his ordinariness comes through in many passages of this novel and the realisation of it hits Maud hard at one point. Her own soul craved a kindred spirit and her lack of it in her marriage created a huge hole in her life that became an abyss. I felt such sadness for her. Some ask why did she marry him? Love is blind. A positive person, a writer, a dreamer might see more than is there for their mind may fill in the missing pieces with their own strengths. It is easy to do. And then there is duty. A very persistent mindset in Maud’s day that may have played upon her moral character.
Another area explored in this novel is one of the married female writer. Women authors may question whether their writing takes time away from their family. Yes, there are sacrifices and yes, marriage and children will compete with the Muse but it can be done. Maud, sadly began to wonder if she failed in this area and blamed herself when one of her children went awry. Chester had issues but should a mother blame herself for her children’s failures? Sometimes all the love and attention in the world is not enough. And children fail on their own terms. I believe even with all the best care possible, sometimes things can go wrong. The old nature versus nurture debate is never so cut and dry. Everyone will make mistakes but what we do with those mistakes makes all the difference. Do we learn and move forward or fall back into a circular destructive pattern?
And then the theme and importance of friendship present in Anne of Green Gables is also highlighted in After Anne. Especially in dealing with the errors we all will make on our journeys through life. A mistake is just a mistake, and a bosom friend would never blame you for it. Or else she isn’t much of a bosom friend. Did Maud make some mistakes in her life? Did she have a bosom friend who understood her and loved her warts and all? Maud found her intimate friend in cousin Frede—a kindred spirit that she was able to confide in without worry of what her friend would think. Of course, there were moments of doubt but Maud realised she was trying to hide from her own mistakes and that her friend would never judge her.
These are just a small number of issues expressed in this novel. It is filled with many nuggets of truth and wisdom. Maud’s life, her friendships, her imaginative realm as a writer and her married life are explored beautifully, thoughtfully and with reverence.
This is a story, with fact intertwined with fiction. A highly imagined account of the spaces between that have been a mystery. It is based on a portion of Maud’s life, her marriage and her end and what may have driven her to suicide. Maud was an author who edited and re-edited her personal journals like her novels to protect, preserve or please herself. After Anne delves into the mind, actions and words of a woman who gave so much joy to others but whose own life was rife with sorrow. Fire was part of her editing process. Did it give her the liberty she desired? We don’t know. But Logan fills in the might-have-been and the maybes. And her use of Maud’s thirty-third birthday is a genius move into the past: a focal point to keep going back to. There is hope that Maud in her last hours may have remembered this special day. Logan Steiner states that the birthday event is her own invention but I think it is a clever and insightful one that draws us back over and over to a possible moment in time of Maud’s happiness.
This novel After Anne is an outstanding delivery and I highly recommend it for so many reasons. It will break your heart, make you smile and remind you what is important in life. It is a must read if you are an Anne of Green Gables fan. Even though it paints a possible picture of reality that bears much sadness and contrast to the author’s books, it does not take away from the great gift this author had: to inspire generations of readers who continue to escape into a world where anything is possible, where natural beauty is celebrated, where the unexpected happens and where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Love, family, hopes and dreams are at the core of Maud’s novels and demonstrated exquisitely in After Anne. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Many thanks to the author and her publisher for a review copy.
March 27, 2023
After Anne really brought back my love of L.M. Montgomery's work. I loved reading about her life. Maud was an interesting person that loved nature, her family and writing.. she yearned for love...her husband dealt with mental illness and possibly addiction...she had one son with a lot of issues and one son that was lovely. I loved reading about the real life of a writer. I thought the author did a wonderful job of bringing Maud's story to life and she even renewed my love for Anne.
January 22, 2023
In this outstanding debut, Logan Steiner delivers a moving, richly detailed and nuanced portrayal of a deeply fascinating woman. Steiner, with a loving hand, lifts the veil of L.M. Montgomery to give us a glimpse of Maud, her strength, her struggles, her quiet courage navigating life as both an ambitious author and a loving friend, wife and mother. Steiner’s extensive research is evident not only in the facts but in the complex emotional tapestry she weaves. Anne of Green Gables fans will sure to delight in this book, but so will any fans of interesting, complicated and clever women. This one is not to be missed!
September 23, 2025
Yes and of course, after having read multiple contemporary (namely late 20th and 21st century) biographies of Lucy Maud Montgomery (and also having perused her complete journals) I well know and totally accept that Montgomery suffered from many mental health challenges and that her life as well as her marriage were often filled with pain, struggle and sadness.
But still, even with her personal journals (which certainly do carry a much more heavy duty emotional punch than L.M. Montgomery's writing, than her prose and her poetry ever manage to do, albeit there is also quite a bit of textual negativity routinely encountered within the pages of Montgomery's oeuvre), there is equally very much lyrical splendour, joy, even optimism and hope presented in L.M. Montgomery's autobiographical musings, and which at least in my humble opinion is sadly and problematically rather majorly missing in action, rather almost non existent within the pages of Logan Steiner's May 2023 historical fiction novel After Anne. Because and frustratingly, unfortunately, Steiner seems to with After Anne rather unilaterally and universally focus primarily on the negatives and that basically everything textually found in After Anne regarding L.M. Montgomery's life is and feels thematics and contents wise overwhelmingly painful, uncomfortable and relentlessly tragic (from Montgomery's marriage to her moods and her entire Weltanschauung), and this honestly is rendering After Anne with its pretty much continuous litany of pain and suffering at best extremely difficult to read, to plough through and really not at all personally enjoyable or textually satisfying either (and also making me feel as though author Logan Steiner with After Anne kind of wants us as readers to see and to receive a very limited, a one-sided and depressing portrait of L.M. Montgomery, and not to mention that I for one frankly also find it highly creepy and even a bit ghoulish that Steiner is basically cherry picking and textually wallowing in the sad, in the problematic and the horrifying with After Anne, and that ONLY this, only the negative seems to matter).
Because while Montgomery's life was indeed often hard and painful, it is also clearly shown in and with her exquisite writing, in her stories and also truth be told in her journals that she, that Lucy Maud Montgomery also had much that she enjoyed and appreciated, and for After Anne to at least from where I am textually standing and coming to rather willfully and almost relentlessly ignore potential joy, hope, optimism and so totally push, push, push the parts of Montgomery's life that were cynical, painfully terrible and traumatic, for me, this produces with After Anne as one-sided and as problematic a portrait of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life as earlier biographies that only showed Montgomery's literary success and that supposedly her marriage was the culmination of her hopes and dreams did, and that equally Logan Steiner's text for After Anne in my opinion is not AT ALL as the book synopsis on Goodreads claims a celebration but in fact rather the opposite and kind of reads like a trashy gossipy type voyeuristic magazine article focussing on the juicy, the psychologically strange, the issue heavy.
And combined with the fact that the multiple story threads moving not linearly but all over the place is distracting and confusing and that having Steiner start After Anne with Lucy Maud Montgomery's death and showing pretty clearly that it was a suicide (even though the latter has just been suspected and not actually proven and that Montgomery's fatal medication overdose might in fact have been accidental), all of After Anne and pretty much every part of Logan Steiner's narrative do hugely and massively grate on me, leave me absolutely and totally disappointed and indeed and honestly only willing and able to consider a one star rating for After Anne (and that I am also kind of annoyed with and surprised at the pretty large amount of glowingly high general ratings but also quite happy and pleased that I am also not the only nay-sayer regarding After Anne).
But still, even with her personal journals (which certainly do carry a much more heavy duty emotional punch than L.M. Montgomery's writing, than her prose and her poetry ever manage to do, albeit there is also quite a bit of textual negativity routinely encountered within the pages of Montgomery's oeuvre), there is equally very much lyrical splendour, joy, even optimism and hope presented in L.M. Montgomery's autobiographical musings, and which at least in my humble opinion is sadly and problematically rather majorly missing in action, rather almost non existent within the pages of Logan Steiner's May 2023 historical fiction novel After Anne. Because and frustratingly, unfortunately, Steiner seems to with After Anne rather unilaterally and universally focus primarily on the negatives and that basically everything textually found in After Anne regarding L.M. Montgomery's life is and feels thematics and contents wise overwhelmingly painful, uncomfortable and relentlessly tragic (from Montgomery's marriage to her moods and her entire Weltanschauung), and this honestly is rendering After Anne with its pretty much continuous litany of pain and suffering at best extremely difficult to read, to plough through and really not at all personally enjoyable or textually satisfying either (and also making me feel as though author Logan Steiner with After Anne kind of wants us as readers to see and to receive a very limited, a one-sided and depressing portrait of L.M. Montgomery, and not to mention that I for one frankly also find it highly creepy and even a bit ghoulish that Steiner is basically cherry picking and textually wallowing in the sad, in the problematic and the horrifying with After Anne, and that ONLY this, only the negative seems to matter).
Because while Montgomery's life was indeed often hard and painful, it is also clearly shown in and with her exquisite writing, in her stories and also truth be told in her journals that she, that Lucy Maud Montgomery also had much that she enjoyed and appreciated, and for After Anne to at least from where I am textually standing and coming to rather willfully and almost relentlessly ignore potential joy, hope, optimism and so totally push, push, push the parts of Montgomery's life that were cynical, painfully terrible and traumatic, for me, this produces with After Anne as one-sided and as problematic a portrait of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life as earlier biographies that only showed Montgomery's literary success and that supposedly her marriage was the culmination of her hopes and dreams did, and that equally Logan Steiner's text for After Anne in my opinion is not AT ALL as the book synopsis on Goodreads claims a celebration but in fact rather the opposite and kind of reads like a trashy gossipy type voyeuristic magazine article focussing on the juicy, the psychologically strange, the issue heavy.
And combined with the fact that the multiple story threads moving not linearly but all over the place is distracting and confusing and that having Steiner start After Anne with Lucy Maud Montgomery's death and showing pretty clearly that it was a suicide (even though the latter has just been suspected and not actually proven and that Montgomery's fatal medication overdose might in fact have been accidental), all of After Anne and pretty much every part of Logan Steiner's narrative do hugely and massively grate on me, leave me absolutely and totally disappointed and indeed and honestly only willing and able to consider a one star rating for After Anne (and that I am also kind of annoyed with and surprised at the pretty large amount of glowingly high general ratings but also quite happy and pleased that I am also not the only nay-sayer regarding After Anne).
February 13, 2023
I knew that I would probably hate this and I do. This is well-meaning, and carefully researched, that doesn't mean it's good.
Montgomery's journals and letters are out there, read those instead.Better still, read her books and her stories, which give adult readers a marvelous picture of rural life on PEI in the late 19th century, and a good deal of insight on human nature. That's what Maud Montgomery wanted us to read. BTW, there is no mention of any contact with her descendants, and I'm not sure they approved of or will be terribly happy with this book
Montgomery's journals and letters are out there, read those instead.Better still, read her books and her stories, which give adult readers a marvelous picture of rural life on PEI in the late 19th century, and a good deal of insight on human nature. That's what Maud Montgomery wanted us to read. BTW, there is no mention of any contact with her descendants, and I'm not sure they approved of or will be terribly happy with this book
February 24, 2023
A delightful read! A bit sad, but a fine depiction of a possible life. I love the Anne books and it was so interesting learning about her author! A must read on so many levels!
July 3, 2023
Great story and superb writing. Once started could not put down.
June 14, 2023
AFTER ANNE by Logan Steiner is a stunning novel that captures the essence of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the brilliant mind behind Anne of Green Gables. Steiner beautifully explores the inner demons that plagued Montgomery, contrasting them with the enduring legacy of her beloved heroine, Anne. This book is a heartbreaker and a source of smiles, reminding readers of life's true priorities. It is an absolute must-read for any fan of Anne of Green Gables. While it portrays a possible reality filled with sadness and contrasts to the author's own works, it does not diminish Montgomery's extraordinary ability to inspire generations. Through her novels, she transports readers to a world where anything is possible, where nature's beauty is celebrated, and where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Love, family, hopes, and dreams are at the heart of Montgomery's storytelling, and Steiner expertly demonstrates these themes in AFTER ANNE. This novel is a poignant tribute to a remarkable author and an exquisite portrayal of the power of imagination.
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June 11, 2023
Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @williammorrowbooks for my gifted copy. My thoughts are my own.
This book is a novelized version of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s life, taken from her journals, and it was a delight to read! I read 𝘼𝙣𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙂𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨 when I was growing up and have watched many versions of the story on TV. I loved LMM’s vivid descriptions and unconventional characters! For me, this book was like a visit with some of the characters in that beloved book. I also caught a glimpse of the people who inspired some of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s (she went by Maud) characters.
Maud loved writing, even as a child. Her grandmother didn’t seem to think it was important, and Maud reverted to listening to the always positive voice of Anne in her head to provide the encouragement she needed. Maud kept journals and, as an adult, was in the process of copying notes from her old journals into new journals to save what she chose for posterity. The storyline switched from Maud’s present to the past as she recalled memories. (I did not have trouble keeping up with the time changes.) Maud eventually suffered some major setbacks (the death of a beloved confidant and her disappointing marriage) and battled with depression.
I was saddened to read that the writer of so many lovely Anne quotes battled with such discouragement. I felt this story was well-written and engaging and I recommend it to all lovers of LMM’s books! I didn’t realize her journals had been published and I plan to read them!
This book is a novelized version of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s life, taken from her journals, and it was a delight to read! I read 𝘼𝙣𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙂𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨 when I was growing up and have watched many versions of the story on TV. I loved LMM’s vivid descriptions and unconventional characters! For me, this book was like a visit with some of the characters in that beloved book. I also caught a glimpse of the people who inspired some of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s (she went by Maud) characters.
Maud loved writing, even as a child. Her grandmother didn’t seem to think it was important, and Maud reverted to listening to the always positive voice of Anne in her head to provide the encouragement she needed. Maud kept journals and, as an adult, was in the process of copying notes from her old journals into new journals to save what she chose for posterity. The storyline switched from Maud’s present to the past as she recalled memories. (I did not have trouble keeping up with the time changes.) Maud eventually suffered some major setbacks (the death of a beloved confidant and her disappointing marriage) and battled with depression.
I was saddened to read that the writer of so many lovely Anne quotes battled with such discouragement. I felt this story was well-written and engaging and I recommend it to all lovers of LMM’s books! I didn’t realize her journals had been published and I plan to read them!
June 15, 2023
So beautifully written! I didn’t know much about Maud’s life before reading this book but really feel like I felt her spirit and ferocity come alive in this book. The book is paced well and I did not find the timeline sequences to be confusing at all but rather helped provide necessary incites and context to later events and tragedies to come. I highly recommend to anyone who loves Historical Fiction or books with rich, multi-dinenstional characters.
October 17, 2023
I knew only bits and pieces of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life, and most of it decried what I would have expected from someone who invented Anne. I wanted something lighter to read and thought this might be a good choice. Light is a word that can only be applied to it in a skewed fashion. It is not light in content at all, but rather light on the writing side.
As sad as her end certainly was, I hope her life itself was not quite this bleak. This is a novel, and I suspect I should have opted for a real biography. I did not feel closer to Maud for reading this. I shall certainly hang on to Anne, a creation that came from her heart and soul, and believe that no one could have written her so well without feeling something joyful and positive in life.
As sad as her end certainly was, I hope her life itself was not quite this bleak. This is a novel, and I suspect I should have opted for a real biography. I did not feel closer to Maud for reading this. I shall certainly hang on to Anne, a creation that came from her heart and soul, and believe that no one could have written her so well without feeling something joyful and positive in life.
June 13, 2023
I have loved the Anne novels since I was a child. They were the reason I learned to love reading. It was heartbreaking to learn how disparate Lucy Maud’s life was from the characters she so lovingly wrote about. Steiner took me to the “highest of heights, and the lowest of lows”. She wrote Maud’s story in a way that beautifully modeled L.M.’s own style. Well done Logan!
April 27, 2023
Thank you Goodreads and Logan Steiner for the ARC copy of After Anne!
I enjoyed this book, I think it was a very well written debut novel and the topic was clearly researched and put together with beautiful wording and background description.
I enjoyed this book, I think it was a very well written debut novel and the topic was clearly researched and put together with beautiful wording and background description.
May 31, 2023
A powerful story, with timeless lessons, beautifully written. I didn't read Anne of Green Gables growing up, but the struggles that the author Lucy Maud Montgomery faced feel so applicable today, where so many of us can get caught up in what others will think of us.
June 8, 2023
This account of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life is well-researched and the writing is decent; the reader, however, needs to manage expectations going in to it.
I say this because most of us equate L.M. Montgomery with exquisite tales of childhood and nature – and even if some of her stories have an edge of darkness, we generally think of the sense of wonder and love and hope that she poured into her stories.
However, in this fictionalized account, things are unrelentingly sad: her marriage, her relationships, her moods, her outlook. It's a more difficult read than I was expecting, even though I really should have known.
It opens on the day she purportedly took her own life. (It should be noted, however, that there is some basis for questioning whether it was in fact deliberate or accidental.) I remember when her descendants decided to reveal this information several years ago, and I also know a little bit about the severe problems she faced, but I always managed to compartmentalize that gut-wrenching knowledge so that I wasn't constantly thinking about it while I read her stories. That's a mental feat impossible to sustain in reading this book. Everything feels absolutely doomed from the outset, and some readers may be a bit blind-sided by the tone.
The synopsis says this book is a celebration of her life and art, but I didn't feel like anything was being celebrated. It also says it's about tenacity and the peaceful refuge found in imagination, but I didn't notice those themes. Instead, it feels like an entire book that is only about why she took her own life, driving you inexorably toward that moment even if it's describing something 30 years earlier. I kind of feel like that does a disservice to her. Could the book have been balanced out by other interludes? About her writing process? The people she came in touch with through correspondence? Something or anything that was satisfying or validating to her as a creator? I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong; maybe there wasn't enough happiness to write about; but even if that's so, I think I'd rather leave her with the ambiguity and dignity of a life that wasn't always going to end the way it did.
Thanks to Edelweiss and William Morrow for this advance review copy.
I say this because most of us equate L.M. Montgomery with exquisite tales of childhood and nature – and even if some of her stories have an edge of darkness, we generally think of the sense of wonder and love and hope that she poured into her stories.
However, in this fictionalized account, things are unrelentingly sad: her marriage, her relationships, her moods, her outlook. It's a more difficult read than I was expecting, even though I really should have known.
It opens on the day she purportedly took her own life. (It should be noted, however, that there is some basis for questioning whether it was in fact deliberate or accidental.) I remember when her descendants decided to reveal this information several years ago, and I also know a little bit about the severe problems she faced, but I always managed to compartmentalize that gut-wrenching knowledge so that I wasn't constantly thinking about it while I read her stories. That's a mental feat impossible to sustain in reading this book. Everything feels absolutely doomed from the outset, and some readers may be a bit blind-sided by the tone.
The synopsis says this book is a celebration of her life and art, but I didn't feel like anything was being celebrated. It also says it's about tenacity and the peaceful refuge found in imagination, but I didn't notice those themes. Instead, it feels like an entire book that is only about why she took her own life, driving you inexorably toward that moment even if it's describing something 30 years earlier. I kind of feel like that does a disservice to her. Could the book have been balanced out by other interludes? About her writing process? The people she came in touch with through correspondence? Something or anything that was satisfying or validating to her as a creator? I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong; maybe there wasn't enough happiness to write about; but even if that's so, I think I'd rather leave her with the ambiguity and dignity of a life that wasn't always going to end the way it did.
Thanks to Edelweiss and William Morrow for this advance review copy.
July 8, 2023
After Anne is an extraordinarily detailed and passionate tribute to Lucy Maude Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables. Written by Logan Steiner, the reader is treated to a rich tapestry of the life and struggles of Lucy Maude Montgomery or Maude, as she was preferred to be called. After Anne is a historical fiction however, Steiner’s treatment of the characters shows the depth of her research as she brings them to life, which I think would have pleased Maude. Steiner shows the incredible joys and the terrible sufferings Maude experiences from her personal losses to her monumental success as an author. Steiner’s use of metaphor and imagery mixed with historical facts gleaned from Maude’s journals and other writings makes After Anne a truly great read.
June 1, 2023
AFTER ANNE: A Novel of Lucy Maud Montgomery
Logan Steiner, Author
https://bit.ly/3OMY7qv
Women's Friction
In this compelling biography of how Anne of Green Gables came to be and on the the life of Maud, as she likes to be called. From the ups and downs of Maud’s life and marriage to a Reverend, to her tragic death.
This book has a little bit of everything that Maud wrote about. From kindred spirits to being in the depths of despair. With a bit of a shock, for me, at the end. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. I also recommend this book be read in print or ebook form to not have any confusion I felt with the audiobook.
Logan Steiner, Author
https://bit.ly/3OMY7qv
Women's Friction
In this compelling biography of how Anne of Green Gables came to be and on the the life of Maud, as she likes to be called. From the ups and downs of Maud’s life and marriage to a Reverend, to her tragic death.
This book has a little bit of everything that Maud wrote about. From kindred spirits to being in the depths of despair. With a bit of a shock, for me, at the end. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. I also recommend this book be read in print or ebook form to not have any confusion I felt with the audiobook.
June 15, 2023
This was an enlightening and intriguing read!~ Just mailed as a share to my Irish GF!! However...
would NOT share with anyone who has experienced a suicide in their family!!
would NOT share with anyone who has experienced a suicide in their family!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Being a complete Anne Of Green Gables fan I absolutely loved reading about the author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Such an incredible, intelligent woman and how she worked through her trials and tribulations of life.
Being a complete Anne Of Green Gables fan I absolutely loved reading about the author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Such an incredible, intelligent woman and how she worked through her trials and tribulations of life.
July 19, 2023
After Anne is a well crafted and wonderfully thoughtful historical fiction novel. In her debut novel, Logan Steiner gives her readers a rare opportunity to better know the beloved author, L.M. Montgomery. Steiner's story invites readers to explore the highs and lows Montgomery navigated in both her personal and professional life. Readers who highly value well researched historical fiction will appreciate how beautifully Logan Steiner weaves the true-to-life facts in with the imagined. Additionally, Steiner incorporates Montgomery's most famous character, Anne Shirley, into the fictional narrative in a most unexpected way.
I highly recommend this novel to those are fans of both historical fiction and classics. There are only a handful of books I know I will revisit regularly, and After Anne is most certainly on that list.
I highly recommend this novel to those are fans of both historical fiction and classics. There are only a handful of books I know I will revisit regularly, and After Anne is most certainly on that list.
March 3, 2023
Although I am a huge Anne of Green Gables fan, I knew nothing about the life of author L.M. Montgomery. This book is a novelized story of her life based on her journals. It was interesting to see where her inspiration for her books came from and how her life was similar to and different from the characters she wrote.
I found the book to be a little difficult to follow in places as it skipped around to different times in her life, especially as it kept coming back to one particular day, which Steiner admits is fictitious. I understand that this method compares her life experiences and how her life changed, but I much prefer a linear story. While this book is engaging, it is unclear just how much is Steiner “filling in the gaps” of the journals. I would like to read the journals themselves sometime; I did not know they had been published.
*I received a free copy of this e-book from NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I found the book to be a little difficult to follow in places as it skipped around to different times in her life, especially as it kept coming back to one particular day, which Steiner admits is fictitious. I understand that this method compares her life experiences and how her life changed, but I much prefer a linear story. While this book is engaging, it is unclear just how much is Steiner “filling in the gaps” of the journals. I would like to read the journals themselves sometime; I did not know they had been published.
*I received a free copy of this e-book from NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
September 23, 2023
I absolutely loved this novel. Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Maud” helped shape my love for reading through her character of Anne. I really enjoyed getting to know her from that perspective.
Maud is creative and a wonderful mother who had a life shaped with love, loss and expectation.
This novel was beautifully written and multiple times I was transported. A wonderful reimagining of a wonderful life.
Maud is creative and a wonderful mother who had a life shaped with love, loss and expectation.
This novel was beautifully written and multiple times I was transported. A wonderful reimagining of a wonderful life.
May 29, 2023
Thank you Goodreads and the author for this book. Little hard to follow at times, good story. 4 stars
February 16, 2024
After Anne reimagines and presents Lucy Maud Montgomery's life with a focus on her life choices. The reality of that life stands in stark contrast to the ebullient Anne Shirley, she who we love to imagine is eternally spreading her relentless cheer and optimistic (and chatty) powers throughout Prince Edward Island. The truth telling of this book doesn't take away from Anne, rather it casts a look beyond Anne's bright profile to the woman with the pen, at the desk, writing, writing, writing. Faced with the life choices we all have to make, she made them in a hasty response to pressures perceived as urgent. In time, consequential outcomes snowballed for her in ways many of us who are fans of Anne may not have been aware.
This author provides background, references for further research if desired and gives opportunity for consideration of not just the social and cultural pressures of choosing partners, family creation, where and how to live, but also the added pressures created by fame, publishers, reader expectations, and family expectations when wealth accumulates. I was truly grieved at the idea there were people close to her who'd never cracked her books open, but used her money. Having been raised in a time where a woman should take care of others rather than say no, she gave in to their demands. She wanted to write for adults, but publishers refused to look at those manuscripts, saying she was a child's author only - I wished for her to be able to achieve her dreams.
I read this while my 10-year-old granddaughter and I are halfway through Anne of Green Gables, and readings of it with her are the delights of my Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Having read After Anne, I mourn a little as I feel this joy, wishing some part of LMM receives that collective joy as affirmation and validation from those of us yet living and enjoying her work, and mightily wish that eternity somewhere will give her a great big do-over, or at least a selective re-sort.
Thank you, Logan Steiner for this informative and deeply moving book.
*A sincere thank you to Logan Steiner, William Morrow, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #AfterAnne #NetGalley
This author provides background, references for further research if desired and gives opportunity for consideration of not just the social and cultural pressures of choosing partners, family creation, where and how to live, but also the added pressures created by fame, publishers, reader expectations, and family expectations when wealth accumulates. I was truly grieved at the idea there were people close to her who'd never cracked her books open, but used her money. Having been raised in a time where a woman should take care of others rather than say no, she gave in to their demands. She wanted to write for adults, but publishers refused to look at those manuscripts, saying she was a child's author only - I wished for her to be able to achieve her dreams.
I read this while my 10-year-old granddaughter and I are halfway through Anne of Green Gables, and readings of it with her are the delights of my Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Having read After Anne, I mourn a little as I feel this joy, wishing some part of LMM receives that collective joy as affirmation and validation from those of us yet living and enjoying her work, and mightily wish that eternity somewhere will give her a great big do-over, or at least a selective re-sort.
Thank you, Logan Steiner for this informative and deeply moving book.
*A sincere thank you to Logan Steiner, William Morrow, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #AfterAnne #NetGalley
November 12, 2025
Cover: delicate and melancholic, it fits After Anne to a t.
Oh. I wasn’t expecting this because we usually pay more attention to the stories than the authors. Authors may fade in the background sometimes, but their stories stay with us. In After Anne, this concept is subverted: Maud Montgomery, who wrote Anne of the Green Gables, is front and center. Her life is on display, with both her strong points and her weaknesses laid bare for everyone to see.
She is almost a spinster, yes, and the push to marry, to settle down with a man, is relentless in the first part of the book. Perhaps her greatest flaw, at least according to ‘900 society, has to do with her dreams—childhood dreams she’s not ready to give up. How is it going to end?
There’s beauty in sadness, and I guess this is the point Steiner wants to make.
Another thing I appreciated is Anne herself. Fictional character, sure, but she is always there, always in the corner of Maud’s mind.
From a technical standpoint, After Anne is written in limited third person, which is always a plus in my book. The lack of unnecessary descriptions and the dialogue-driven prose? Another plus!
Flaws, well. The pacing is the first thing that comes to mind, of course, but at the same time, I’m not sure we can classify it as a flaw. It fits the story; it fits Maud’s personality. However, I couldn’t help but notice too many alliterations and repetitions throughout the book. Having a page where each paragraph starts with ‘Maud, she, she, she, so, if Maud, Maud’ or another with four ‘Maud’ and a ‘Marilla’ in a row is a little jarring.
4 stars on GR.
Oh. I wasn’t expecting this because we usually pay more attention to the stories than the authors. Authors may fade in the background sometimes, but their stories stay with us. In After Anne, this concept is subverted: Maud Montgomery, who wrote Anne of the Green Gables, is front and center. Her life is on display, with both her strong points and her weaknesses laid bare for everyone to see.
She is almost a spinster, yes, and the push to marry, to settle down with a man, is relentless in the first part of the book. Perhaps her greatest flaw, at least according to ‘900 society, has to do with her dreams—childhood dreams she’s not ready to give up. How is it going to end?
There’s beauty in sadness, and I guess this is the point Steiner wants to make.
Another thing I appreciated is Anne herself. Fictional character, sure, but she is always there, always in the corner of Maud’s mind.
From a technical standpoint, After Anne is written in limited third person, which is always a plus in my book. The lack of unnecessary descriptions and the dialogue-driven prose? Another plus!
Flaws, well. The pacing is the first thing that comes to mind, of course, but at the same time, I’m not sure we can classify it as a flaw. It fits the story; it fits Maud’s personality. However, I couldn’t help but notice too many alliterations and repetitions throughout the book. Having a page where each paragraph starts with ‘Maud, she, she, she, so, if Maud, Maud’ or another with four ‘Maud’ and a ‘Marilla’ in a row is a little jarring.
4 stars on GR.
September 7, 2023
This was really good! I almost hated to put it down. Great background (even if fictional) on the author of Anne of Green Gables and what was happening during and after that book was published.
October 14, 2023
L’auteur nous plonge dans l’univers et la vie de cette auteure qui a inspiré la vie de tant de personnes. Une biographie romancée à l’image des livres de l’auteur. On retrouve en elle et dans sa vie les personnages tant aimée.
September 6, 2023
“After Anne," is an absolute must-read! I appreciate the way the author thoughtfully depicts L.M. Montgomery's life, shedding light on both the creative drive and the genuine struggles of this celebrated author. The meticulous research and passion for the subject are evident. I’m looking forward to reading Steiner’s next novel.
May 5, 2023
****Publishing May 30, 2023****
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Did you grow up reading Anne of Green Gables? If so, After Anne, is one to put on your TBR list!
This book focuses on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s life and her inspiration for Anne of Green Gables. Maud had her own struggles, including the criticism of her own grandmother and the hardships of her husband, so writing Anne of Green Gables in her journal was an escape and helped to put her life in perspective!
I absolutely loved how Logan Steiner explained in her author’s note her love of Anne of Green Gables, which led her to research and write about Lucy Maud Montgomery.
This Historical Fiction book is so well researched and written, which makes it a must read for all those who grew up reading Anne of Green Gables or watching the mini-series. A wonderful tribute to Lucy Maud Montgomery!
Thanks to William Morrow, I was provided an ARC of After Anne by Logan Steiner via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 1, 2023
AFTER ANNE
Logan Steiner
Wow, you just never know! I had no idea what demons hid behind the pages of sweet, sweet Anne of Green Gables. The life of Lucy Maud Montgomery was nothing like I expected. Anne, with an E was such an uplifting character, it is difficult to think that a woman who had so many problems in real life would be able to write in such an uplifting manner.
I enjoyed the peek behind the curtain, but didn't think it was spectacular or some great work of art... it was just a good read!
3 stars
Happy Reading!
Logan Steiner
Wow, you just never know! I had no idea what demons hid behind the pages of sweet, sweet Anne of Green Gables. The life of Lucy Maud Montgomery was nothing like I expected. Anne, with an E was such an uplifting character, it is difficult to think that a woman who had so many problems in real life would be able to write in such an uplifting manner.
I enjoyed the peek behind the curtain, but didn't think it was spectacular or some great work of art... it was just a good read!
3 stars
Happy Reading!
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