Behind the Story: Anne of Green Gables

When Lucy Maud Montgomery first published Anne of Green Gables in 1908, she probably didn't think that more than a century later, it would have been translated into at least 36 different languages and sold more than 50 million copies. More than that, Montgomery's classic has also spurred a number of movies and a Netflix series.

But what makes the tale of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan sent to brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, so beloved? Where did Montgomery get the idea from in the first place?

Where did L.M. Montgomery get the idea?

The idea for starry-eyed Anne Shirley can't be distilled down to one source. Scholars think many influences, including Montgomery's own life and experiences, influenced the creation of one of literature's most iconic figures. A few of those influences include:

• An adoption mix-up: In a journal of story ideas, Montgomery included an entry that read: Elderly couple apply to orphan asylum for a boy. By mistake a girl is sent them. The idea may have come from the 1892 experience of Montgomery's distant cousins, who wanted to adopt a boy, but were sent a girl instead. Like fictional Anne, Montgomery's cousins adopted Ellen Macneill.
  

• Her own life and experiences: Montgomery's mother, Clara Macneill, died when the author was still a toddler. Left in the care of Clara's parents, Alexander Marquis Macneill and Lucy Ann Woolner Macneill, Montgomery grew up in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, somewhat isolated from the community and a dreamer, like Anne. PEI became an iconic part of Montgomery's best-loved series, a character all its own in many ways. Cavendish became the fictional town of Avonlea. Montgomery, like Anne, created imaginary friends and playmates, and based Green Gables, Matthew and Marilla's home, on the house of her Macneill cousins. Montgomery's own experiences also influenced her beloved series. Loneliness and abandonment are common themes, and Montgomery felt deeply abandoned by her father, whom she simultaneously deeply loved, shown in Anne herself and in Montgomery's character Paul Irving, one of Anne's students being raised by a grandfather while longing for an absent father. An outsider in her own life, Montgomery's heroines (Anne, Emily Starr from another Montgomery series, and Valancy Stirling of The Blue Castle) are often outsiders, widely misunderstood by those closest to them.
  

• A photo: In 1934, Montgomery placed a photo clipped from a magazine in her journal. The photo, depicting the dreamy, wide-eyed face of a girl, became the model for Anne's face as Montgomery wrote. While Montgomery maintained she did know the model's name, just that she was "a real girl somewhere in the U.S.," scholars now know the photo was of Eveyln Nesbit, a teen model and Gibson Girl living in New York. (Coincidentally, while Nesbit's face may have informed Montgomery's writing, Nesbit's own real life story is a sordid tale of its own. Learn more by listening to Crimes of the Centuries' episode about her.)
  

• The magazines of the day: A voracious reader, Montgomery read the magazines of the day, including Godey's Lady's Book and others where she would have glimpsed that photo of Evelyn Nesbit. The magazines, full of photos and advertisements, were also filled with stories and poems to excite Montgomery's imagination. Orphan stories were a common trop of the time, and generally followed a formalized plot structure. These "formula Ann" stories can be seen in stories Montgomery may have read in magazines, such as Charity Ann and Lucy Ann and can even be found in a favorite redheaded orphan, Annie.

According to a 2018 Washington Post article—and the success of Anne with an E, an Netflix series loosely based on Montgomery's work—Anne of Green Gables is still very much alive. Locations that inspired Montgomery's fictional Avonlea are popular tourist attractions to this day. Maybe it's time to get your own copy of the series and see for yourself!

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For More Information

To learn more about the story behind Anne of Green Gables, read Irene Gammel's book, Looking for Anne of Green Gables, published in 2009.