Anne of Green Gables
L.M. Montgomery
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, June 28, 2015)
Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Written as fiction for readers of all ages, the literary classic has been considered a children's novel since the mid-twentieth century. It recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, a young orphan girl, age 11 who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who had intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm on Prince Edward Island. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way with the Cuthberts, in school and within the town.Since publication, Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies and has been translated into 20 languages. Numerous sequels were written by Montgomery, and since her death another sequel has been published, as well as an authorized prequel. The original book is taught to students around the world.It has been adapted as films, made-for-television movies, and animated and live-action television series. Anne Shirley was played by Megan Follows in the 1985 Canadian produced movie. Plays and musicals have also been created, with productions annually in Canada since 1964 of the first musical production, which has toured in Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan. Others have been produced in Canada and the United States.BackgroundIn writing the novel, Montgomery was inspired by notes she had made as a young girl, about a couple who were mistakenly sent an orphan girl instead of the boy they had requested yet decided to keep her. She drew upon her own childhood experiences in rural Prince Edward Island. Montgomery used a photograph of Evelyn Nesbit as the model for the face of Anne Shirley, which she had clipped from New Yorkโs Metropolitan Magazine and put on the wall of her bedroom.Montgomery was also inspired by the "formula Ann" orphan stories which were popular at the time and distinguished her character by spelling her name as "Anne." She based other characters such as Gilbert Blythe in part on people she knew. She said that she wrote the novel in the twilight of the day, while sitting at her window and overlooking the fields of Cavendish.
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