Nov 30, 2015
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 141st Birthday
This Doodle’s Key Themes
Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote her first novel in 1905. It was rejected by every single publishing house that received it. A few years later, Montgomery tried shopping it again and succeeded. Her story about the adventures of a red-headed girl in Prince Edward Island became a smash hit. That novel ultimately became one of Canada’s most all-time popular books, being translated into around 20 languages and selling more than 50 million copies to date. Anne of Green Gables and its many sequels made Montgomery a wildly successful author and turned PEI into a destination for the book’s thousands of fans.
One of Canada’s most celebrated writers, Montgomery also wrote hundreds of poems and short stories as well as a number of novels apart from the Anne series. She was the first Canadian woman to be made a member of the British Royal Society of Arts and was also appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Today, on what would have been her 141st birthday, we salute Lucy Maud Montgomery with a Doodle that pays tribute to her most iconic book.
Doodler Olivia When, herself an Anne of Green Gables fan, wanted to honor Montgomery by illustrating several scenes from the beloved novel, including a particularly memorable one in which Anne mistakenly bakes a cake with liniment (a medicated oil) instead of vanilla. Here’s to Anne with an “e” Shirley and her revered creator, Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Early skeches by Doodler Olivia When
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