In the Shadow of Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery’s Life and Legacy - Canadian Time Machine Podcast

Today, a podcast was released titled, "In the Shadow of Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery’s Life and Legacy" as part of Season 3 of Canadian Time Machine, a series produced by The Walrus Lab. The episode was created to honor the 150th anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birth. In the 15-minute-long podcast, Angela Misri speaks with Kate Macdonald Butler, who is L.M. Montgomery's granddaughter.

They talk about L.M. Montgomery's legacy and how people see themselves in Anne of Green Gables. They mention how immigrants to Canada and ADHD and neurodivergent communities have found kinship with Anne Shirley. Kate Macdonald Butler talks about how she learned about her grandmother through conversations with her father. She feels that her grandmother is closer in terms of personality to Emily Starr from the Emily of New Moon series than she is to Anne Shirley. Kate Macdonald Butler also discusses how both L.M. Montgomery and her husband struggled with depression. Lastly, she talks about the new commemorative coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in celebration of Montgomery's birthday and legacy.

Give the podcast a listen through the links below.

Websites:
In the Shadow of Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery’s Life and Legacy - Canadian Time Machine podcast and English transcript at The Walrus
In the Shadow of Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery’s Life and Legacy - Canadian Time Machine podcast at Apple Podcasts

Image credit:
Image from The Walrus.

Created November 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Emily of New Moon Audiobook

An Emily of New Moon audiobook read by Megan Follows was produced by Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre and Design Sound Productions in 2021. Megan Follows is well-familiar with L.M. Montgomery's works, having starred as Anne Shirley in the acclaimed Anne of Green Gables (1985) by Sullivan Entertainment and its sequels Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987) and Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (2000).

In an interview with the CBC, Follows reflected on her return to L.M. Montgomery's world saying, "It was a fun revisiting of the author, to hear her language again, to be transported to that time and place. Even though it's obviously a different series with the Emily of New Moon books, but still obviously so strongly the voice of Lucy Maud Montgomery, who I'm a fan of. It was a fun opportunity to just sit in the booth and talk." Follows recorded the audiobook during the pandemic. She reflected on the creative experience saying, "I guess it was perfect, given the world that we were all living in at the time. We were in COVID. The recording studio had just opened back up. This is back in the winter. It was going from the isolation of one space into a recording studio all sanitized down, in this cocoon-like world. In a way, the true beauty of the literature is that I got to be transported to outside my circumstances and situations into someone else's life. That's really the beautiful thing about her work."

Megan Follows has a deep understanding of L.M. Montgomery's voice and her characters. She says, "I think there is something that people identify with — being ostracized, being bullied, being excluded, the fear of not fitting in, not being wanted. What is my voice? How do I belong? How do I find a voice and a place in the world? That is as much a part of our present day situation."

I don't often listen to audiobooks, but I'm going to seek out this one.


Image Credit:
Artwork for the Emily of New Moon Audible audiobook by Design Sound Productions.

Reference:
CBC Books. (2021, Jul 14). Megan Follows returns to Lucy Maud Montgomery's world with Emily of New Moon audiobook. CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/books/megan-follows-returns-to-lucy-maud-montgomery-s-world-with-emily-of-new-moon-audiobook-1.6101013

Purchase the Emily of New Moon Audiobook:

Created May 19, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon: A Children's Classic at 100

Last month, on April 23, 2024, L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon: A Children's Classic at 100 was published by the University Press of Mississippi. This new book of scholarship on the Emily of New Moon series was edited by Yan Du and Joe Sutliff Sanders of the University of Cambridge. The scholarly volume contains contributions by Yoshiko Akamatsu, Carol L. Beran, Rita Bode, Lesley D. Clement, Allison McBain Hudson, Kate Lawson, Jessica Wen Hui Lim, Lindsey McMaster, E. Holly Pike, Katharine Slater, Margaret Steffler, and Anastasia Ulanowicz.

Here is the description of the volume from the University Press of Mississippi:

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) was a Canadian author best known for writing the wildly popular Anne of Green Gables. At the time of its publication in 1908, it was an immediate bestseller and launched Montgomery to fame. Less known than the dreamy and accidentally mischievous Anne Shirley is Emily Byrd Starr, the title character in the trilogy that followed much later in Montgomery’s professional career, Emily of New Moon. Published in 1923, Emily of New Moon is the first in a series of novels about an orphan girl growing up on Prince Edward Island, a story that mirrors Anne’s but intentionally resists many of the defining qualities of Montgomery's most famous creation.

Despite being overshadowed by the immense popularity of Anne of Green Gables, the Emily of New Moon trilogy has become a subject of endless fascination to fans and scholars around the world. The trilogy was conceived during an important phase in Montgomery’s career during which she turned from Anne and plunged into more intricate aspects of gender, adolescence, nature, and authorship. While the novels have attracted rich critical attention since their publication, book-length studies proved surprisingly scarce. L. M. Montgomery’s "Emily of New Moon": A Children’s Classic at 100 is the first scholarly volume exclusively dedicated to the trilogy, coalescing different research perspectives. It offers a fresh point of entrance into a well-loved classic at its one-hundredth anniversary.

Reviews

"Du and Sanders present a robust collection providing new, unique, and exciting approaches to L. M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon series." - Ashley N. Reese, author of The Rise of American Girls’ Literature

"A hundred years after the first installment of Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon, this essay collection makes clear that Emily Byrd Starr’s coming-of-age story is as relevant as ever." - Dawn Sardella-Ayres, research associate for the L. M. Montgomery Institute

Image credit:
Book cover of L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon: A Children's Classic at 100 by the University Press of Mississippi.

Purchase and read L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon: A Children's Classic at 100:


Created May 11, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

something especially spooky in the way of ghosts

"a ghost you couldn't see but could hear and feel was something especially spooky in the way of ghosts"
-L.M. Montgomery
Emily of New Moon

Read more quotes by L.M. Montgomery.

Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

Purchase and read the Emily of New Moon series:



Created October 31, 2022. Last updated April 19, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

A real poet...

"You can never be a real poet if you haven't made at least one poem about spring."
-L.M. Montgomery
Emily of New Moon

Read more quotes by L.M. Montgomery.

Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

Purchase and read the Emily of New Moon series:



Created March 21, 2022. Last updated April 19, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Emily of New Moon Jigsaw Puzzle

Have fun completing this online Emily of New Moon jigsaw puzzle. Before beginning, you can rotate the puzzle pieces and increase the number of pieces to make the puzzle more challenging. You can also customize the background color.

The cover art is by M.L. Kirk for the 1923 version of Emily of New Moon published by Frederick A. Stokes Company.



Created January 31, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Emily of New Moon (2007) aka Kaze no Shoujo Emily

Emily of New Moon aka Kaze no Shoujo Emily (translated to English as "Emily, the Wind Girl") is an animated television series that was based on L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon trilogy.

The Emily of New Moon anime series was a single season with 26 episodes. Each episode was roughly 25 minutes in length. The series was produced by Hideaki Miyamoto, and the series music was by Akira Miyagawa. The series aired on NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) Educational TV from April 7, 2007 to September 29, 2007.

The protagonist Emily Byrd Starr was voiced by actress Tomoko Kawakami. The anime's plot primarily follows that of the novel Emily of New Moon with some scenes from Emily Climbs and Emily's Quest. Set on Prince Edward Island, Canada, the series follows the growth of a young girl Emily Starr. The story begins with Emily, who lives alone with her father. When her father dies, Emily is adopted by her strict Aunt Elizabeth and moves to New Moon Farm. Facing loneliness and isolation, Emily writes letters to her dead father. Emily meets and becomes close friends with Ilse Burnley, Teddy Kent, and Perry Miller. Each of the friends has a special talent. Emily loves to write and dreams of becoming a novelist.

Cast:
Tomoko Kawakami as Emily Byrd Starr
Akemi Okamura as Perry Miller
Kôki Miyata as Teddy Kent
Sachiko Kojima as Ilse Burnley
Emi Shinohara as Kaze no Oba-san (Mrs. Wind) (narration)
Masako Ikeda as Laura Murray
Rokuro Naya as Jimmy Murray
Toshiko Fujita as Elizabeth Murray
Akio Ohtsuka as Mr Carpenter
Atsuko Enomoto as Rhoda Stuart
Aya Hisakawa as Aileen Kent
Chiemi Ishimatsu as Jennie Strang
Kiyoyuki Yanada as Allan Burnley
Misaki Sekiyama as Carrie Strang
Niina Kumagaya as Miss Brownell
Shigenori Sôya as Douglas Starr
Touko Aoyama as Grace and Saucy Sal
Youko Matsuoka as Aunt Ruth

External Link:
Official Emily of New Moon (2007) Website

Image credit:
Drawing of Emily Bryd Starr from Emily of New Moon (2007) aka Kaze no Shoujo Emily. © NHK

Created December 11, 2006. Last updated April 23, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Emily (1999)

Emily (1999) is a musical by Richard Ouzounian and Marek Norman based on the Emily of New Moon trilogy (Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily’s Quest) by L.M. Montgomery. Richard Ouzounian, who is a theatre critic, writer, and director, wrote the book and lyrics. Marek Norman, who is a composer, actor, and producer, wrote the orchestral music.

Emily made its world premiere on June 19, 1999 at the Charlottetown Festival at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The musical starred Tracy Michalidis as Emily Starr. The musical was successful and returned the following season in 2000. The script was published by McArthur and Company in 2000.

Emily is described in the published script as follows:
"EMILY is a new Canadian musical based on the famous trilogy by Lucy Maud Montgomery: EMILY OF NEW MOON, EMILY CLIMBS, and EMILY'S QUEST. The three books deal with the growth of a young woman on Prince Edward Island at the turn of the century, both as an individual and as a writer. Many commentators feel that Emily contains Montgomery's fantasy of the choices she wishes she had made in her life. EMILY was first presented at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown in June of 1999 and instantly became a smash hit, proving to be one of the most popular shows in the festival's thirty-five year history. It will be returning for the 2000 season, and a subsequent tour is in the works. Included here is an introduction by Richard Ouzounian, the entire play's script, and four original songs from the musical.”

The four songs included in the book are: “The Dream Begins,” “Disappointed House,” “There Will Be Another Rainbow,” and “This Island.”


Image Credit:
Front cover of the Emily script by Richard Ouzounian and Marek Norman featuring a photograph of Tracy Michalidis as Emily Starr from The Charlottetown Festival (1999). The photograph is by Barrett and MacKay. The script was published by McArthur and Company in 2000.

Created May 21, 2006. Last updated June 22, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Emily of New Moon (1998-2000) Television Series Episode List

Here is the list of episodes from Emily of New Moon, the television series based on L.M. Montgomery's Emily trilogy. The series starred Martha MacIsaac as Emily Byrd Starr and aired from 1998 to 2000. Emily of New Moon ran for four seasons and had 46 total episodes. Seasons 1, 2, and 3 had 13 episodes each, and Season 4 had 7 episodes.

Season 1

1. "The Eye of Heaven"
2. "Storms of the Heart"
3. "The Book of Yesterday"
4. "The Disappointed House"
5. "Paradise Lost"
6. "The Enchanted Doll"
7. "Falling Angels"
8. "The Tale of Duncan McHugh"
9. " Wild Rover"
10. "The Ghost of Wyther Grange"
11. "A Child Shall Lead Them"
12. "A Winter's Tale"
13. "The Sound of Silence"

Season 2

1. "Summer of Sorrows"
2. "And So Shall They Reap"
3. "A Shadow in His Dream"
4. "Where Angels Fear to Tread"
5. "The Curse of the Poppet"
6. "Rivers of Babylon"
7. "A Time to Heal"
8. "The Devil's Punchbowl"
9. "Pins & Needles"
10. "Crown of Thorns"
11. "When the Bough Breaks"
12. "Love Knots"
13. "The Book of Hours"

Season 3

1. "Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies"
2. "The Return of Maida Flynn"
3. "Under the Wishing Moon"
4. "Bridge of Dreams"
5. "Bred in the Bone"
6. "The Return of Malcolm Murray"
7. "In the Valley of the Shadow of Death"
8. "Had a Wife and Couldn't Keep Her"
9. "A Fall From Grace"
10. "The Bequest"
11. "Command Performance"
12. "A Man May Work from Sun to Sun But a Woman's Work is Never Done"
13. "A Weaver of Dreams"

Season 4

1. "Rites of Passage"
2. "The Taming of Ilse Burnley"
3. "A Bill of Divorcement"
4. "Too Close to the Sun"
5. "The Weight of the World"
6. "Away"
7. "A Seller of Dreams"

Image credit:
Screencapture of Martha MacIsaac starring as Emily Starr in Emily of New Moon. © Salter Street Films and CINAR Films

Purchase and stream Emily of New Moon online:



Created July 13, 2005. Last updated October 23, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Emily of New Moon (1998-2000)

Emily of New Moon (1998–2000) is an intriguing Canadian television series that brought L.M. Montgomery's beloved Emily trilogy to life on the screen. Developed by Marlene Matthews, who also penned several episodes, the show was co-produced by Salter Street Films and CINAR Films. It aired on CBC in Canada and on WAM in the United States, with its popularity extending to 26 countries around the world. Over its four seasons and 46 episodes, Emily of New Moon enchanted audiences with its heartwarming yet sometimes dark storytelling.

At the center of the series is Martha MacIsaac, a Prince Edward Island native, who starred as the imaginative and strong-willed Emily Byrd Starr. Emily is sent to live with her strict relatives at New Moon farm after her father’s death, and the show follows her journey as she navigates loss, family tensions, and her unstoppable creative spirit. Sheila McCarthy portrayed Emily's gentle Aunt Laura, while her stern Aunt Elizabeth was brought to life by Susan Clark. Stephen McHattie played the kind but unusual Cousin Jimmy.

Emily's world is also filled with a dynamic group of friends. Jessica Pellerin played the fiery Ilse Burnley, Kris Lemche portrayed the dynamic Perry Miller, and Shawn Roberts was cast as the artistic Teddy Kent. Together, these charismatic young actors added layers of charm and depth to Emily's adventures.

The series earned critical acclaim, with Sheila McCarthy winning a Gemini Award in 1998 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role. That same year, Kris Lemche took home the Gemini for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series. In 1999, Martha Henry was awarded a Gemini for Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role in a Dramatic Series.

The heart of Emily of New Moon lies in Emily Starr's resilience and passion. Orphaned and thrust into a strict and stifling environment at New Moon, Emily clings to her vivid imagination and her dream of becoming a writer. Despite Aunt Elizabeth’s ban on reading anything beyond schoolbooks, Emily secretly pours her thoughts into letters to her late father and writes poetry. Through her close friendships with Ilse, Perry, and Teddy, Emily finds adventure and inspiration.

Fully filmed on Prince Edward Island, Emily of New Moon captivated viewers not only with its dark and mysterious storytelling but also with the Island’s stunning natural beauty. The show received widespread acclaim for both its mesmerizing scenery and the fine performances that brought L.M. Montgomery's world to life.

Image credit:
Screencapture of Martha MacIsaac playing Emily Starr in Emily of New Moon. © Salter Street Films and CINAR Films.

Purchase or stream Emily of New Moon online:



Created July 12, 2005. Last updated October 22, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Emily of New Moon Series eTexts and Electronic Books

Where can I read the Emily of New Moon series online?

Below are external links to read L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon series online. You can also download the ebooks as epub files, plain text files, or books for your Kindle.

The Emily of New Moon Series

Emily of New Moon
Text | HTML | EPUB | Kindle

Emily Climbs
Text | HTML | EPUB | Kindle

Emily's Quest
Text | HTML | EPUB | Kindle


Image credit:
Emily Climbs artwork by Elly MacKay from the 2014 Tundra Books edition of the novel.

Created January 26, 2003. Last updated September 9, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Songs of the Island (2002)

Songs of the Island (2002) is a musical tribute to L.M. Montgomery by Hank Stinson. This musical revue premiered at the Charlottetown Festival in Prince Edward Island, Canada in the summer of 2002. Songs of the Island was developed by The Castle Company, a Prince Edward Island-based musical theatre company.

Hank Stinson wrote the full text and lyrics, with the exception of the quotes and excerpts from L.M. Montgomery’s novels Emily of New Moon, Rainbow Valley and The Blue Castle. The revue also quotes the lyrics for "Peace," which was written by L.M. Montgomery in the article “Prince Edward Island” for the book, The Spirit of Canada: Dominion and Provinces (1939). In addition, musical includes five excerpts from L.M. Montgomery’s autobiography The Alpine Path.

In the musical’s dialogue, the performers explain that they consider the best way to learn about Maud is by reading her letters, poems, short stories, and novels, and that, “The key to understanding Maud is though her characters.” They emphasize that there is more to L.M. Montgomery than Anne of Green Gables. Thus, the musical revue aimed to show additional facets of Montgomery’s character by focusing on songs and scenes from Stinson’s previous musicals on L.M. Montgomery’s works: Emily of New Moon, Rainbow Valley and The Blue Castle. The music for The Blue Castle was by Hank Stinson with additional music by Helen MacRae. The music for Emily of New Moon and Rainbow Valley was by Dean Burry. Interspersed between the songs, the performers discuss the similarities between L.M. Montgomery and her characters.


Image Credit:
Graphic by The World of Anne Shirley.

References:
The Castle Co. Webpage (archived).
Songs of the Island at The Castle Co. (archived).
Dean Burry's Official Website

Created August 15, 2002. Last updated June 18, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com