http://www.bookswelove.com/donaldson-yarmey-joan/
Prince Edward Island
Lucy Maud Montgomery was
born in Clifton, now New London, Prince Edward Island on November 30, 1874. Her
mother died of tuberculosis two months before Lucy’s second birthday. Lucy was
put in the custody of her maternal grandparents in Cavendish by her father who
later moved to Prince Albert in what is now Saskatchewan.
This was a very lonely time for Lucy. She spent much of her childhood
alone so she created imaginary friends and worlds. Lucy kept a diary and when
she was thirteen years-of-age, she wrote that she had early dreams of future fame. After completing her education Lucy
moved to Prince Albert and spent a year with her father and step-mother. While
there she had two poems published in The
Daily Patriot, the Charlottetown newspaper.
Lucy returned to Cavendish and obtained her teacher’s license,
completing the two year course in one year. She went on to study literature at
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She worked as a teacher which
gave her time to write. From 1897 to 1907 she had over one hundred stories
published in magazines and newspapers.
Lucy had a number of suitors over the years and turned down two marriage
proposals, one because he was narrow-minded, the other because he was just a
good friend. She finally accepted a proposal from Edwin Simpson in 1897 but came
to dislike him. She found herself in love with another man, Herman Leard. She
refused to have sex with him but they did become quite passionate in their
kissing and petting. She finally stopped seeing Herman in 1898 and was upset
when he died of influenza in 1899. She also broke off her engagement to Edwin
Simpson.
Ms. Montgomery moved back to Cavendish to look after her ailing
grandmother and began writing novels. Her first novel, Anne of Green Gables, was published in June of 1908 under the name
L.M. Montgomery and was an instant success, going through nine printings by
November of 1909. Lucy stayed in Cavendish until her grandmother’s death in
March 1911 and shortly after she married Ewen (Ewan) Macdonald. Ewen was a
Presbyterian minister and they moved to Leaskdale in present-day Uxbridge
Township in Ontario where he took the position of minister at St. Paul’s
Presbyterian Church. The lived in the Leaskdale manse and she wrote her next
eleven books while there.
Lucy and Ewen had three children, the second one being stillborn. Lucy’s
second book, Anne of Avonlea was
published in 1909 and The Story Girl,
came out in 1911. She went through several periods of depression and suffered
from migraine headaches while her husband had attacks of a major depressive
order and his health suffered. She almost died from the Spanish flu in 1918,
spending ten days in bed. She began an Emily trilogy with Emily of New Moon in 1923.
When Ewen retired in 1935, they
bought a house in Swansea, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto which she named Journey's End.
On April 24, 1942, Lucy Maud Montgomery was found dead in her bed in her
Toronto home. The primary cause of death recorded on her death certificate was
coronary thrombosis. Montgomery was buried at the Cavendish Community Cemetery
in Cavendish. In 2008, Lucy’s granddaughter, Kate Macdonald Butler, said that
because of her depression she may have taken her own life through a drug
overdose.
Writing was Lucy’s comfort and besides the nine books of the Anne series
she wrote twelve other novels and had four short story collections published.
Nineteen of her books were set in Prince Edward Island and she immortalized the
small province with her descriptions of the people and community. Each year,
hundreds of thousands of people from around the world, come to Prince Edward
Island to see the place that Lucy loved so much, and to visit Green Gables, the
house and farm where ‘Anne grew up.’
Lucy Maud Montgomery was made an officer of the Order of the British
Empire (OBE) by King George V in 1935. She was given a special medal, which she
could only wear out in public in the presence of the King or one of his
representatives such as the Governor-General. Montgomery was named a National
Historic Person in 1943 by the Canadian Federal government. On May 15, 1975,
the Canadian Post issued a stamp to Lucy
Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. The Leaskdale Manse was designated a
National Historic Site in 1997. Green Gables, was formally recognized as
"L. M. Montgomery's Cavendish National Historic Site" in 2004.
In terms of sales, both in her lifetime and since, Montgomery is the
most successful Canadian author of all time.
Milton James Rhode Acorn was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,
on March 30, 1923. At the age
of eighteen, he joined the armed forces and was stationed mainly in England. On
an ocean crossing, he was injured as a result of depth charges. He returned
home and received a disability pension. He moved to Montreal in 1956 where he
self-published a chapbook of his poems titled, In Love and Anger. His poetry was also published in New
Frontiers, a political magazine,
and in Canadian Forum magazine.
Milton moved to Vancouver in the
mid-1960s and helped found the ‘underground’ newspaper, Georgia Straight, in 1967. The newspaper is still in publication.
His collection of poetry I’ve Tasted My
Blood, was published in 1969 and he received the Canadian Poets
Award in 1970. He wrote three more books of poetry and in 1976 received the
Governor General’s Award for The Island Means Minago.
Acorn liked to be a man of mystery. He disguised and altered his
background so that biographers and anyone wanting to find out more about him
did not learn anything that he did not want uncovered. Because of the many
different versions he told of his life it is difficult to know where reality
ended and fiction began. He was also considered to be a hostile and quarrelsome
man. However, Milton Acorn was deemed to be one of Canada most well-known poets
by the early 1970s. Thirteen collections of poetry were published before his
death and five more were published posthumously.
Three documentaries were made about Milton Acorn: Milton Acorn: The People’s Poet (1971; In Love and Anger: Milton Acorn-Poet (1984); and A Wake for Milton (1988).
Milton suffered diabetes and moved
back to Prince Edward Island in 1981. He had a heart attack in July 1986 and
died on August 20, due to complications from the diabetes and his heart attack.
Milton Acorn was known as the ‘People’s Poet’. The Milton Acorn People’s
Poetry Award was established in his memory in 1987. It consists of $500 and a
medallion and is given to an exceptional ‘People’s Poet.’
Book 11 of the Canadian Historical Brides Series: Envy the Wind (Prince Edward Island) - Anita Davison and Victoria Chatham - May 2018
Victoria (Vicki) Chatham was born in Bristol, England and now
lives near Calgary, Alberta. She grew up in
an area rife with the elegance of Regency architecture. This, along with the
novels of Georgette Heyer, engendered in her an abiding interest in the period
with its style and manners and is one where she feels most at home.
Vicki mostly
writes historical novels but now and again will tinker with contemporary
romance. Her stories are laced with a little mystery to keep her characters on
their toes and, of course, in the end love has to conquer all. Cold Gold (2012), On
Borrowed Time (2014) and Shell
Shocked (2014) are the three books in her Buxton Chronicles series set in
the early 1900s. She switched time eras for her next book Loving That Cowboy (2015) which is a contemporary novel that takes
place in Calgary during the Calgary Stampede.
Apart from her writing, Victoria is an
avid reader of anything that catches her interest, but especially Regency
romance. She also teaches introductory creative writing. Her love of horses
gets her away from her computer to volunteer at Spruce Meadows, a world class
equestrian centre near Calgary. She goes to movies often and visits her family
in England when she can.
She is a long time member of Romance Writers of America and her local RWA
chapter, CaRWA, the Calgary Association of Romance Writers of America.
Anita Davison was born in London, England
and she connected with the history of that city at a young age. While the rest
of the students on a school trip were throwing the contents of their lunch
boxes at each other, Anita imagined men in high white wigs, flared long coats,
and heeled shoes coming out of coffee houses, climbing into sedan chairs on the
cobbles in Paternoster Row, where Christopher Wren was lowered down the outside
of St Paul's Cathedral in a basket.
Her first historical fiction novel was about a 17th Century West
Country family during the Monmouth Rebellion. By the time she submitted the
manuscript to publishers, historical family sagas were no longer in
fashion. Historical fiction, however, still had a following and she wrote
the Rebels Daughter (2014) and The Goldsmith’s Wife (2017) the two
books of The Woulfes of Loxsbeare.
Anita has also written an
Edwardian Cozy Mysteries series set in early 20th Century London and
Cheltenham.
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