Montgomery, << mont GUHM uh ree or mont GUHM ree >> Lucy Maud (1874-1942), was a Canadian author best known for her novel Anne of Green Gables (1908). The novel describes an adolescent girl’s search for independence from the adult world. Montgomery based it on her childhood experiences living with her grandmother at Cavendish in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. The novel’s lovable heroine and pleasing setting on Prince Edward Island gained Montgomery an international reputation. Montgomery described Anne’s career and marriage in seven later novels and a collection of short prose pieces and poems.
Montgomery was born on Nov. 30, 1874, in Clifton (now New London), Prince Edward Island. After attending Dalhousie University, she worked as a journalist and teacher in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Montgomery moved to Cavendish in 1898 to take care of her grandmother, who was ill. There, she began writing short stories and poems for children’s magazines. Montgomery was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1935. She died on April 24, 1942. The Green Gables Farmhouse at Cavendish is the setting of Montgomery’s famous novel. The farmhouse is part of L. M. Montgomery’s Cavendish National Historic Site.
