Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE, published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning in 1908 with Anne of Green Gables. The book was an immediate success. Anne Shirley, an orphaned girl, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. The first novel was followed by a series of sequels with Anne as the central character. Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays. Most of the novels were set in Prince Edward Island, and locations within Canada's smallest province became a literary landmark and popular tourist site - namely Green Gables farm, the genesis of Prince Edward Island National Park.
Synopsis
Mary Augusta Ward CBE was a British novelist who wrote under her married name as Mrs. Humphry Ward. She worked to improve education for the poor and she became the founding President of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League. Ward began her career writing articles for Macmillan's Magazine while working on a book for children that was published in 1881 under the title Milly and Olly. This was followed in 1884 by a more ambitious, though slight, study of modern life, Miss Bretherton, the story of an actress. Ward's novels contained strong religious subject matter relevant to Victorian values she herself practiced. Her popularity spread beyond Great Britain to the United States.