Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery

by Melanie J. Fishbane

Overview

For the first time ever, a young adult novel about the teen years of L.M. Montgomery, the author who brought us ANNE OF GREEN GABLES.


     Fourteen-year-old Lucy Maud Montgomery — Maud to her friends — has a dream: to go to college and become a writer, just like her idol, Louisa May Alcott. But living with her grandparents on Prince Edward Island, she worries that this dream will never come true. Her grandfather has strong opinions about a woman's place in the world, and they do not include spending good money on college. Luckily, she has a teacher to believe in her, and good friends to support her, including Nate, the Baptist minister's stepson and the smartest boy in the class. If only he weren't a Baptist; her Presbyterian grandparents would never approve. Then again, Maud isn't sure she wants to settle down with a boy — her dreams of being a writer are much more important.

     But life changes for Maud when she goes out West to live with her father and his new wife and daughter. Her new home offers her another chance at love, as well as attending school, but tensions increase as Maud discovers her stepmother's plans for her, which threaten Maud's future — and her happiness forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143191254
Publisher:	Tundra Book Group
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

MELANIE J. FISHBANE holds an M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and an M.A. in History from Concordia University. With over seventeen years' experience in children's publishing, she lectures internationally on children's literature and L.M. Montgomery, whom she has been obsessed with since she first read Anne of Green Gables in Grade Six. Melanie teaches English at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario and is one of the contributor in the essay collection, L.M. Montgomery's Rainbow Valleys: The Ontario Years 1911-1942. Melanie lives in Toronto with her partner and their cat, Merlin. Maud is her first novel. You can follow Melanie on Twitter @MelanieFishbane and like her on Facebook.

Read an Excerpt

  She couldn’t breathe. Sweat pooled under the weight of her long hair, soaking her lace collar. The thin gold ring she always wore on her right hand strangled her swelling index finger. She tried twisting it, but it was stuck.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Maud"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Melanie J. Fishbane.
Excerpted by permission of PRH Canada Young Readers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

02/13/2017
In a delightful debut novel, Fishbane presents a fictional portrait of the teenage years of Anne of Green Gables author L.M. Montgomery. The story opens in 1889, with 14-year-old Maud living with her maternal grandparents in Prince Edward Island. They are distant, but Maud finds comfort in her writing, friends, and new teacher, Miss Gordon, who encourages her writing. Maud and her friend Nate grow close, but her grandparents don’t approve of him, and she’s sent to live with her father and his new family in Saskatchewan. Maud makes new friends and even finds love in her new surroundings, but she always strives for more. Fishbane lovingly captures the small-town charm of Maud’s Prince Edward Island home and the rugged frontier of Saskatchewan while etching an affecting portrait of a young woman determined to follow her heart and be something more, at a time when options for women were few. Fans of Montgomery’s novels will recognize much of Maud’s life in that of Anne, but even readers not familiar with those books will be easily drawn into her world. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

A Huffington Post Canada Selection: "Great Books for Kids in Summer 2017"
One of Toronto Public Library’s Great Reads for Youth 2018
Selection 2018 – BookRiot 50 Must-Read Canadian Children’s and YA Books
Selection – OLA Forest Teen Committee’s 2018 Summer Reading List


"Fishbane's affection for her subject shines through, making the character of Maud herself come alive for readers. An engaging depiction of an ambitious young woman . . . Maud is highly recommended for teen and adult readers." —National Reading Campaign

"[T]here's nothing dated about the relentless lack of understanding and warmth [Maud] experienced in her family life, something Fishbane conveys with aplomb." —The Toronto Star

"An engaging addition that will appeal to more than just fans of L.M. Montgomery." —School Library Journal

"... Maud will serve as a gateway to the world of Montgomery, which, even after more than a century, is in no danger of being exhausted." —Quill & Quire

"Fishbane places her readers in the historical and geographical environs of the teenage Montgomery and enhances their understanding of one of Canada’s most beloved authors." —CM Magazine

"Fishbane's historical research is thorough and comes out beautifully in the narrative. . . . [T]he spirit of Montgomery's writing breathes subtly within the pages." —Historical Novel Society

From the Publisher

04/01/2017
Gr 7 Up—This book, based on the early teen years of Lucy Maud Montgomery, opens in 1889, when the "Anne of Green Gables" author is 14. Motherless and with an absent father, Maud lives with her strict maternal grandparents in picturesque Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Though life at home is full of obligations and duties, Maud finds distraction and excitement with her tight-knit circle of friends. She excels in school and aspires to be a published writer, though her options are severely limited because of her gender. As her grandparents remind her, Maud's goal should be to obtain a suitable husband. The story follows Maud as she reluctantly leaves the island for the newly developing territory of Saskatchewan to live with her father and his new family and then returns to her beloved Cavendish when things sour. The novel ends in 1892, but an addendum provides a summary of Maud's later years. Fishbane's admiration for Montgomery is apparent throughout, and her writing is reminiscent of the author's. The third-person narrative is filled with vivid descriptions of the natural beauty of the island and the untamed yet scenic Saskatchewan. Secondary characters are fully drawn and their interactions detailed and rich. Fishbane effectively evokes Maud's loneliness at having no true place to call home, despite her rather large extended family. Notwithstanding a cluttered start—too many characters are introduced at once, and a "cast of characters" at the outset is daunting—the tale quickly finds its footing as a compelling and informative tale of a beloved author. VERDICT An engaging addition that will appeal to more than just fans of L.M. Montgomery.—Melissa Kazan, Horace Mann School, NY

School Library Journal

2017-02-14
Historical fiction based on a few teenage years in the life of Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Fourteen-year-old Maud Montgomery lives in a small town on Prince Edward Island with her dour maternal grandparents. It's the late 1880s; with the exception of a very few Métis, everybody is white, and most are Presbyterian. Maud's mother died when she was a toddler, and her now-remarried father lives in Saskatchewan. Maud chafes under her grandparents' restrictions and sneaks walks home with schoolmate Nate; she worries about her relationships with friends and her teacher; she writes in her journal and composes poetry. When her grandparents discover her tepid relationship with Nate, they send her west to her father for a year. Maud doesn't get along with her stepmother; she doesn't know what to make of a teacher who seems to be courting her; and she makes friends with another boy while also publishing her first pieces of writing. Fishbane thoroughly researched Montgomery's life to create this lengthy debut, but she doesn't turn it into a novel: there's a great deal of retelling in the passive voice. While Anne of Green Gables remains a classic, Montgomery isn't widely known among today's U.S. schoolchildren, and it's doubtful they'll be willing to wade through these pages to get glimpses of the girl Maud might have been. Disappointing; steer interested readers toward Mary Henley Rubio's biography, Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings (2010), instead. (cast of characters, historical note, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 12-adult)

Kirkus Reviews