Judy Stoffman wrote a comprehensive review of Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings by Mary Rubio for the National Post titled "Beyond the Red Haired Girl: Her Fiction May Be Upbeat, but L.M. Montgomery’s Life Was Less So." Stoffman writes about the stark contrast between the happy endings Montgomery wrote for her "plucky heroines" and her own turbulent life.
Stoffman writes,
"In her 21 books of fiction, Lucy Maud Montgomery always provided a
happy ending. Her plucky heroines, the red-haired orphan Anne Shirley
the most famous among them, somehow manage to seize their opportunity to
love, to marry, to find acceptance in their community after vanquishing
controlling mothers, gossipy neighbours, manipulative suitors, bullying
fathers, cruel grandmothers, false friends, negative aunties - the
whole nasty army of discouraging, judgmental, energy-sapping naysayers
bent on undermining the dreams and ambitions of the young.
Yet a happy ending eluded the lively, intelligent and hard-working Montgomery herself, who lived what may be the most tragic life of any Canadian writer and died an addict to prescription medications at the age of 67, in 1942."
Yet a happy ending eluded the lively, intelligent and hard-working Montgomery herself, who lived what may be the most tragic life of any Canadian writer and died an addict to prescription medications at the age of 67, in 1942."
Stoffman writes about the new information provided by Rubio's biography, which examines Montgomery's early life, schooling, romances, career, marriage, relationships, and children.
"Five volumes of her diaries were published by Oxford University Press
beginning in 1985, but the full extent of her suffering and
disappointments has not been known until Mary Rubio's Lucy Maud
Montgomery: The Gift of Wings (Doubleday Canada, 684 pages, $39.95).
Montgomery had carefully shaped and revised her diaries throughout her
life, deleting the most shameful facts. Rubio, now an emeritus professor
of English at the University of Guelph, spent 30 years researching her
magisterial biography and has filled in all the gaps."
According to Stoffman, Rubio's new biography puts L.M. Montgomery's life in context and considers the radical shifts following WWI, including the changes in literary tastes, psychiatric treatments, and views of religion. Rubio's extensive research shows how Montgomery's life was affected by societal, cultural, and personal factors, providing a nuanced and thorough portrait of the author.
Reference:
Stoffman, Judy. (2009, January 17). Beyond the Red Haired Girl: Her Fiction May Be Upbeat, but L.M. Montgomery’s Life Was Less So. National Post. Retrieved from: http://www.financialpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=1186069
