In June 1908, a red-haired orphan appeared on to the streets of Boston and a modern legend was born. That little girl was Anne Shirley, better known as Anne of Green Gables, and her first appearance was in a book that has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 35 languages (including Braille). The author who created her was Lucy Maud Montgomery, a writer who revealed very little of herself and her method of crafting a story. On the centenary of its publication, Irene Gammel tells the braided story of both Anne and Maud and, in so doing, shows how a literary classic was born. Montgomery's own life began in the rural Cavendish family farmhouse on Prince Edward Island, the place that became the inspiration for Green Gables. Mailmen brought the world to the farmhouse's kitchen door in the form of American mass market periodicals sparking the young Maud's imagination. From the vantage point of her small world, Montgomery pored over these magazines, gleaning bits of information about how to dress, how to behave and how a proper young lady should grow. She began to write, learning how to craft marketable stories from the magazines' popular fiction; at the same time the fashion photos inspired her visual imagination. One photo that especially intrigued her was that of a young woman named Evelyn Nesbit, the model for painters and photographers and lover of Stanford White. That photo was the spark for what became Anne Shirley. Blending biography with cultural history, Looking forAnne of Green Gables is a gold mine for fans of the novels and answers a trunk load of questions: Where did Anne get the "e" at the end of her name? How did Montgomery decide to give her red hair? How did Montgomery's courtship and marriage to Reverend Ewan Macdonald affect the story? Irene Gammel's dual biography of Anne Shirley and the woman who created her will delight the millions who have loved the red haired orphan ever since she took her first step inside the gate of Green Gables farm in Avonlea.

By any standards, Lucy Maud Montgomery’sAnne of Green Gables is a stunning success. Published in 1908 (and not once out of print),Anne has sold more than 50 million copies, been translated into more than 17 languages (including Braille), and become the focus of international conferences devoted to its interpretation. Anne has remained, as Matthew sings in the musical, “forever young,†no small feat for the spunky, in-your-face redhead who, in 2008, celebrates her 100th birthday! But why Anne? How does Montgomery`s classic work pull so many international readers into the vortex of Anne`s freckled face and carrotty braids? How does this little book create such enduring interest around the world? The answer is far more intriguing than any story even Anne could have imagined. In her journal, Maud`s quick pen would froth up the tiniest details of her life into dramatic events, but that same pen never revealed a single word aboutAnne. As a result, the novel’s secrets have remained sealed for over a century. Looking for Anne is the untold story of a literary classic and a writer who found inspiration in many places including the popular images of the era, such as beauty icons, fashion plates, and advertisements; a writer who quietly quarried her material from American mass market periodicals; who consciously imitated formula fiction to create marketable stories for juvenile periodicals, religious newspapers, and glamorous women’s magazines—and who ultimately, in the storm that brewed up the novel, also transcended these influences to create a twentieth-century literary classic that would conquer the world. Blending biography with cultural history, penetrating and uncensored, this is the definitive book onAnne of Green Gables.Looking for Anne captures both the spirit of Marilla’s critical probing for “bald facts†and Anne’s belief in the infinite power of the imagination. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of Anne with an “e.†Praise forLooking for Anne: Looking for Anne takes a bold new look at Anne of Green Gables. If you have loved Anne of Green Gables and wonder how she came about, I recommend that you read Irene Gammel’s book. — Kate Macdonald Butler (Lucy Maud Montgomery’s granddaughter) Visit the Looking for Anne webpage by clickinghere

The beloved bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author brings us a novel that is “funny and lyric and true" (The New Yorker). Through the syncopated rhythms of the ragtime era to the thumping, rocking beats of the 1970s, generations of Pecks have maintained a determined steadiness. Adamantly middle class—Peck-proud, as the family slogan goes—they are quick to sweep under the rug those members who do not live up to their standards. Maybe that’s why Caleb Peck took off with his violincello as a boy? Sixty years later, his brother Daniel is still wondering. No longer willing to live without answers, he turns to his daughter-in-law, Justine, another Peck family eccentric. A studied tarot card reader, Justine comes across one message over and over in the cards: change is coming. With Daniel’s help, she’s hoping to find the courage to embrace whatever happens next. An unlikely pair struggling against a stifling family, Daniel and Justine believe they’ll find freedom in just the right mix of magic, music, and mystery.

A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, 2016 Told from the perspective of the tree outside Anne Frank's window—and illustrated by a Caldecott Honor artist—this book introduces her story in a gentle and incredibly powerful way to a young audience. The tree in the courtyard was a horse chestnut. Her leaves were green stars; her flowers foaming cones of white and pink. Seagulls flocked to her shade. She spread roots and reached skyward in peace. The tree watched a little girl, who played and laughed and wrote in a diary. When strangers invaded the city and warplanes roared overhead, the tree watched the girl peek out of the curtained window of the annex. It watched as she and her family were taken away—and when her father returned after the war, alone. The tree died the summer Anne Frank would have turned eighty-one, but its seeds and saplings have been planted around the world as a symbol of peace. Its story, and Anne’s story, are beautifully told and illustrated in this powerful picture book.

Until 1994, the world knew Anne Perry as the writer of bestselling crime fiction at the peak of her writing career. But following the release of Peter Jackson’s film Heavenly Creatures, about the sensational 1954 Parker-Hulme murders, came the shocking revelation that Anne Perry began life as Juliet Hulme, the teenager jointly convicted of murdering her friend’s mother. Life would never be the same for Perry. That a convicted murderer had gone on to become a celebrated crime writer with worldwide sales of over 25 million books was tantalizing enough. But with careful analysis of her writing reveals that these were more than simple crime stories; spiritual and philosophical complexities thread their way through Anne Perry’s works. Was Perry, in fact, revealing more about herself in the characters she was creating? Acclaimed biographer Joanne Drayton takes on the challenge of exploring Perry’s writing to uncover her world view and compulsion to write. The famously private Perry agreed to be comprehensively interviewed for the book and has allowed Drayton unparalleled access to her friends, relatives, colleagues and archives.

"In these tales the reader can observe Anne's writing prowess grow from that of a young girl's into the observations of a perceptive, edgy, witty and compassionate woman"--Jacket flaps.

Traces the life of a young Jewish girl who kept a diary during the two years she and her family hid from the Germans in an Amsterdam attic.

"Acclaimed literary biographer Joanne Drayton was given unparalleled access to Anne Perry, her friends, relatives, colleagues, and archives to complete this book. She intersperses the story of her life with an examination of her writing, drawing parallels between Perry's own experiences and her characters and storylines. The Search for Anne Perry is a gripping account of a life, and provides understanding of the girl Anne was, the adult she became, her compulsion to write, and her view of the world"--

The recent 100 year anniversary of the first publication of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables has inspired renewed interest in one of Canada's most beloved fictional icons. The international appeal of the red-haired orphan has not diminished over the past century, and the cultural meanings of her story continue to grow and change. The original essays in Anne's World offer fresh and timely approaches to issues of culture, identity, health, and globalization as they apply to Montgomery's famous character and to today's readers. In conversation with each other and with the work of previous experts, the contributors to Anne's World discuss topics as diverse as Anne in fashion, the global industry surrounding Anne, how the novel can be used as a tool to counteract depression, and the possibility that Anne suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Anne in translation and its adaptation for film and television are also considered. By establishing new ways to examine one of popular culture's most beloved characters, the essays of Anne's World demonstrate the timeless and ongoing appeal of L.M. Montgomery's writing.

Travels with Anne is a hilarious account of vacation misadventures. Join Stuart Anderson and his ever-faithful companion, Anne, as they try their luck in various unlikely vacation spots, including: southern Africa, where Anne and Stuart learn about the perils of traveling with a guide who knows absolutely nothing about the country; Central America, where the vacationers learn about humidity, jungle insects, and why it doesnt pay to drop your eyeglasses into the ocean; the Yukon Territory, where Anne and Stuart find that grizzly bears can be very annoying; the Canadian High Arctic, where it turns outif you can believe itthat the weather can be pretty darned bad; Trinidad and Tobago, where the most notable things about the weather are the rain and the fact that it never stops; Mexicos Copper Canyon, where Stuart and Anne are lucky enough to travel with the quintessential Texas windbag; and, finally, West Texass Chihuahan Desert, where the vacationers enjoy missing car keys, flat tires, and repeated encounters with seemingly insane bird watchers. Along with being endlessly funny, Travels with Anne is also a surefire cure for wanderlust. Read this book, and for heavens sake stay at home.