Written and illustrated by Janet Wilson
978-1-0688776-0-5
39 pp.
39 pp.
All ages
September 2024
While the world knows the story of Anne of Green Gables, in whatever configuration they may have enjoyed–so many adaptations!–the story of her creator, Lucy Maud Montgomery, is less known to most of us. Was her story that of Anne's? Did she write from personal experiences? Was there really a Green Gables? And how did a freckled and red-haired girl enchant the world so completely?
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| From Maud of Green Gables: How L. M. Montgomery's Anne Enchanted the World, written and illustrated by Janet Wilson |
“But oh, I love my work! I love spinning stories,
and I love to sit by the window of my room
and shape some ‘airy fairy’ fancy into verse.”
and I love to sit by the window of my room
and shape some ‘airy fairy’ fancy into verse.”
And, though Janet Wilson peppers her story with photographs and direct quotes from Montgomery's diaries and from her novel, reminding us that Maud of Green Gables
is a biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery, it is the artwork that makes
the story sing.
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| From Maud of Green Gables: How L. M. Montgomery's Anne Enchanted the World, written and illustrated by Janet Wilson |
Janet Wilson's
oil paintings do more than just captivate. First, they let us see Anne
of Green Gables again and in a different light. (And the light in Janet Wilson's
art is brilliant!) We see Anne as she dreams, as she imagines, as she
takes in the wonders of her world, and as she treasures moments with
those she loves.
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| From Maud of Green Gables: How L. M. Montgomery's Anne Enchanted the World, written and illustrated by Janet Wilson |
But Janet Wilson also lets us see Lucy Maud
Montgomery beyond the images recorded in photographs. Those images of
her as a child or as a woman, or of her homes and those in her life are
static. They captured a person or a place in one moment. Janet Wilson's
paintings give us heart and always radiant light. Whether Maud is
reading with a cat on her lap, playing with a camera, or walking along a
shore, there is a radiance that comes from within.
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| From Maud of Green Gables: How L. M. Montgomery's Anne Enchanted the World, written and illustrated by Janet Wilson |
Maud of Green Gables
could have been a dry biography about L. M. Montgomery's story, from
early life and family to education and writing and then to her marriage
and death. But anyone could tell that story. Telling it with the richness of this art could
only be done by the likes of Janet Wilson, the artist whose realism brought In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae,
written by Linda Granfield, to life. Here her art recreates Maud and
Anne with light and life. Moreover, by quoting from Maud's diaries and from
Anne's story, Janet Wilson connects the two women on a deeper level, reaching into the hearts of Anne and Maud simultaneously and making us feel for both writer and character and know them both a little better.
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Janet Wilson launches Maud of Green Gables: How L. M. Montgomery's Anne Enchanted the World this Saturday (September 7, 2024) in Eden Mills, Ontario. Check here for details, including how to purchase her new book.
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