Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island

by Francis W.P. Bolger (Editor), L.M. Montgomery, Wayne Barrett (Photography)

Photographs of Prince Edward Island are paired with quotations from L.M. Montgomery's letters and diaries.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, Art and Photography, Canada

86 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 1983

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I originally had Francis W.P. Bolger's 1983 Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island shelved under literary criticism. However, I have now changed this, as there is nothing textually contained in Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island that is in my humble opinion even remotely analytical or interpretative regarding L.M. Montgomery's oeuvre, regarding her writing. Sure, the Montgomery letter and diary extracts, as well as the quotations from the autobiographical The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career Bolger is using in Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island with Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay's eighty-six Prince Edward Island themed (colour) photographs, yes, these words certainly do a nice enough job mirroring the photographs and vice versa, and they also demonstrate how much and how intensely L.M. Montgomery loved PEI (and also how hugely she missed her home province once she and her new husband the Reverend Ewan MacDonald had permanently relocated to Ontario). But Bolger in Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island really only uses the L.M. Montgomery writing examples as narrational fodder so to speak and never (and frustratingly so for me) attempts to figure out the reasons behind L.M. Montgomery's love affair with Prince Edward Island (and that thus, the "spirit of place" allusion in the book title is certainly more than a bit misleading, at least to and for me, since I was definitely expecting and also requiring much more verbal depth from Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island and not just a rather standard and unremarkable combination of photographs and accompanying pieces of descriptive L.M. Montgomery textual examples).

And combined with the fact that Francis W.P. Bolger's biographical sketch at the beginning of Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island is rather simplistic and also seems very keen on trying to make L.M. Montgomery's life appear as relatively positive, that Bolger certainly has chosen to in my opinion pretty much ignore how intensely unhappy Montgomery often was and that both she and her husband were often facing serious medical and mental health challenges, and that with regard to the photographs, I most definitely would much rather be looking at historical black and white and not contemporary colour examples (including photographs taken by Lucy Maud Montgomery herself, as she was a keen photographer and shot many PEI landscape scenes), yes, I really have been pretty massively disappointed with Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island and am therefore only considering a two star rating (and would also only consider recommending Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island to so-called completists who want to and need to read absolutely everything about and concerning L.M. Montgomery).

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

With eighty-six color photographs taken on Prince Edward Island, paired with quotations from L.M. Montgomery's diaries, her autobiography, The Alpine Path , and her letters to various correspondents over the years, Spirit of Place is an attractive gift-book that will probably only appeal to those who are already devoted fans of the author.

Francis W.P. Bolger - who also edited My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. Macmillan from L.M. Montgomery , a collection of Montgomery's letters to her Scots friend and correspondent George Boyd MacMillan - provides a brief biographical sketch at the beginning of the book, but readers shouldn't expect to come away knowing anything new about Montgomery. The bulk of the book is given to short passages concerning the beauties of Prince Edward Island, together with the photographs of Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay.

While I enjoyed thumbing through this slim volume, I can honestly say that despite my love of Montgomery's work, I do not feel strongly enough about it to desire a copy of my own, and am rather glad that I was able to borrow it. Perhaps if I ever have the opportunity to travel to "the Island" myself, I will find such a collection more meaningful.

[OvercommuniKate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a "coffee book" of photos of places that Lucy Maud Montgomery said were dear to her heart.

I have a hard time reviewing coffee books as books for flipping through when you're bored one day are not the same thing as literature analysis of an author's life. However, I do think this is a nice coffee book in that it puts photos to a place that I've never seen but have read a lot about.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly pictures with very little text. While some photographs were nice, many of them weren't really...unique?...enough to be included in a work on Montgomery and PEI. Just because the sun in the brilliant clouds is over PEI, just because the intimate image of the tide coming in is near Cavendish, doesn't mean it will resonantly capture Montgomery's home. I'd recommend The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables by Catherine Reid for a chatty, satisfying, seasonal look at PEI and its intersections with Montgomery's life.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book with writings by L. M. Montgomery along with stunning photographs of her homeland of Prince Edward Island. I enjoyed her descriptions of the land, woods, sea, and the weather. She even makes an old, dusty country road sound inviting.
If you've never read any of L. M. Montgomery's novels, I highly suggest starting with "Anne of Green Gables.". It will draw you in and you'll fall in love with the freckle-faced orphan, and the descriptive writing of L. M. Montgomery.

[Tibia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spirit of Place takes me back to a long ago visit to PEI through pictures, and especially through prose of Lucy Maud Montgomery. "A certain amount of my soul long starved mounted up on wings as of eagles. I was at home - heart and soul and mind I was at home. My years of exile had vanished. I had never been away."

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice coffee table book. Pretty picture of the island.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I want to go Prince Edward Island. I loved this book for the beautiful photographs. I want to see these scenes for myself.

[Elizabeth Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The woods call you with a hundred voices but the sea has only one—a mighty voice that drowns your soul in its majestic music. The woods are human but the sea is of the company of the archangels.”

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up thinking that it was going to be all about my favorite author and her favorite place. And while it was full of pictures of current day PEI narrated by Montgomery's own writings, I expected a lot more content. One thing I really liked was the way Montgomery's descriptions of places in real-life PEI matched up almost exactly to her descriptions of places in her books. I got to see the actual Lake of Shining Waters, Lover's Lane, and The White Lady, among others. Obviously this is only a book for the L.M. Montgomery obsessed, but since it was so short, I don't really have anything else to say about it.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs; it makes me want to visit PEI!

[Denise of Ingleside]

beautiful pictures! wonderful book!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short book with biographical background of L.M.M., and photos of her home interspersed with quotes of what the Island meant to her. Gorgeous. Now I really want to go there!