Maud’s use of humor in “A Western Eden” would be offensive to us today, but it does show, as I’ve explored in this novel, a young writer learning her craft. Maud would often use satire to highlight serious situations in her fiction, such as when Anne’s teacher Mr. Philips in Anne of Green Gables, is shown to be a bad educator, not only because of his lack of skill, but also because of his flirtation with one of his students, Prissy Andrews. This was also most likely inspired by her experience with Mr. Mustard.
This novel takes place while Maud is just discovering what it means to be a writer and a woman. During a period where women’s education (let alone being a writer) was considered inappropriate, Maud’s passion, ambition, and dream for education set her apart. She didn’t have the luxury that many women in the Western world have today, of being allowed to choose between ambition and career or love and marriage—or all of the above. Maud eventually would marry, in 1911 at the age of 37, and had three sons with Reverend Ewan Macdonald: Chester, Hugh (who died), and Stuart. By then she had worked for the Daily Echo, had a number of short stories and poems published, and was the bestselling author of 1908’s Anne of Green Gables. Maud and her family lived in Leaskdale, Norval, and Toronto, Ontario, returning to the Island for visits in the summer.
Sadly, throughout her life, Maud suffered from depression. Her husband, Ewan, also had a condition called Religious Melancholia. Both took many different kinds of pills that were supposed to help them, but ended up doing them more harm than good. On April 24, 1942, after dropping off what would be her final manuscript, The Blythes Are Quoted, Maud died in her home, Journey’s End, in Toronto.
Throughout her life, Maud wrote over five hundred short stories, twenty-one novels (one posthumously published), hundreds of poems, and a number of essays. She was a bestselling author who achieved financial success, as well as acclaim from her contemporaries, including Mark Twain. She became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1935, worked tirelessly for the Toronto chapter of the Canadian Authors Association, and mentored young writers, providing the guidance that she never really had as a teen writer.
My hope is that you will find something in my Maud to inspire you to ask questions, read her fiction, and discover your own ideas, your own truth, about who you think she is. And, perhaps, find a story of your own.
Melanie J. Fishbane, 2016
WHAT HAPPENED TO MAUD’S FRIENDS
NATHAN (SNIP) JOSEPH LOCKHART, JR. (1875–1954): Nate completed his BA from Acadia College in 1895 and an MA in 1896. He and Maud continued to write letters and saw each other when he would visit his family, but eventually their correspondence trickled out. When the Spurrs left Cavendish in 1896, he stayed in Nova Scotia to teach, eventually entering Dalhousie University in Halifax and receiving his law degree in 1902. When Maud and Nate bumped into one another in 1901 at Dalhousie, she hoped he would contact her, but he didn’t. They never saw one another again. Nate practiced law in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and married Mabel Celeste Saunders in 1906. That year, the Lockharts moved to Estevan, Saskatchewan, where he set up a law practice, and they had two sons. Nate had a very successful practice, eventually becoming a judge. After retiring to St. Petersburg, Florida, Nate died in 1954. He was seventy-nine. Some believe that Nate was the partial inspiration for Gilbert Blythe in the Anne of Green Gables series.
AMANDA (MOLLIE) JANE MACNEILL (1874–1949): After her mother died and her father (who suffered from depression) committed suicide, Mollie married George Henry Robertson (1875–1965), from Mayfield, a community part of the North Shore settlements, which included Cavendish. According to Maud, Mollie married George in July 1909 as a last resort, because she didn’t want to end up an old maid. Mollie moved to Mayfield with George, where she lived for the rest of her life. They had no children. Maud and Mollie continued to correspond faithfully, but Maud often complained in her journals that Mollie had lost her youthful exuberance because she was unhappy in her marriage to a man she didn’t love, growing old, sick, and bitter. Mollie’s childhood home later fell into disrepair and was torn down when the government decided to build Green Gables park for the tourists who were coming to the Island to see where Anne of Green Gables took place. Hammie’s Lane and the place where Mollie’s house stood is now a golf course. Maud wished it had been turned into a historical site instead. Mollie died in 1949 at the age of seventy-five.
PENSIE MARIA MACNEILL (1872–1906): Pensie married William B. Bulman (1871–1947) and moved to his North Shore settlement, New Glasgow, in 1898. They had one son, Chester. Pensie and Maud maintained a friendship, but they were never as close as they had been when they were young, and Maud wasn’t invited to Pensie’s wedding, which hurt her quite deeply. Maud writes in her journal about how worried she was about Pensie’s health and that she was working herself too hard. Maud’s fears were well-founded; Pensie died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-four, just when Maud was completing a draft of what would become Anne of Green Gables. Seventy years after Pensie died, Chester found Maud’s letters to her childhood friend from her time in Prince Albert. These letters show how close these two women were when they were young, and how much their friendship meant to Pensie.
LAURA PRITCHARD AGNEW (1874–1932): Maud and Laura corresponded for over thirty-nine years, with a pause around the First World War, and Maud kept a picture of Laura on her bookshelf. After Maud left Prince Albert, Laura continued to court many beaux, including Andrew Agnew, who had to wait six years before she agreed to marry him on June 3, 1896, in Laurel Hill; he was thirty and she was twenty-two years old, and Will served as the best man. They had five children. Throughout her life, Laura volunteered for causes that were close to her heart, such as the Temperance movement, and played organ for prisoners at the local jail. In 1930, Maud contacted Laura as she was coming out West for a visit, and they had a joyous reunion, visiting Laurel Hill and reminiscing about her time in Prince Albert. Laura died unexpectedly two years later in 1932 at the age of fifty-seven. Many people believe that Laura inspired the character Diana from the Anne of Green Gables series. Maud’s 1917 novel, Anne’s House of Dreams, is dedicated to her.
WILL GUNN PRITCHARD (1872–1897): Will never went to university, working instead for his father on his ranch, but Will and Maud continued to correspond until his death of influenza in April 1897, at the age of twenty-five. When Maud found out, she read his ten-year letter and wrote, “It was a letter of love, and oh, how it hurt poor lonely me to read it!” Will is said to be another inspiration for the character of Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables. His photo sat on Maud’s bedroom bookshelf, and when Laura sent the ring back, Maud wore it until she died, dedicating her final novel published during her lifetime, Anne of Ingleside, to “W.G.P.”
FURTHER READING
I’m grateful for the tremendous resources available through the L.M. Montgomery community. Below are some of the research and sources used to craft this novel.
MONTGOMERY-RELATED WEBSITES