The Story Girl, L.M. Montgomery’s fourth book, was published in May 1911 by L.C. Page and Company (Boston).
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Contents
About The Story Girl
Epigraph
Dedication
Chapters
Editions of The Story Girl
Adaptations of The Story Girl
Reviews of The Story Girl
Related page: Reviews of Books by L.M. Montgomery: 1908–1921
About The Story Girl
The Story Girl focuses on eight merry children who spend an enchanted summer in Carlisle, Prince Edward Island, a group led by Sara Stanley, the title protagonist, who is renowned for her gifts in oral storytelling. The characters return in the book’s sequel, The Golden Road (1913).
Epigraph
“She was a form of life and light
That seen, became a part of sight,
And rose, where’ver I turn’d mine eye,
The morning-star of Memory!”
—Byron.
Dedication
To
my cousin
Frederica E. Campbell
in remembrance of old days, old dreams,
and old laughter
Chapters
I. The Home of Our Fathers
II. A Queen of Hearts
III. Legends of the Old Orchard
IV. The Wedding Veil of the Proud Princess
V. Peter Goes to Church
VI. The Mystery of Golden Milestone
VII. How Betty Sherman Won a Husband
VIII. A Tragedy of Childhood
IX. Magic Seed
X. A Daughter of Eve
XI. The Story Girl Does Penance
XII. The Blue Chest of Rachel Ward
XIII. An Old Proverb with a New Meaning
XIV. Forbidden Fruit
XV. A Disobedient Brother
XVI. The Ghostly Bell
XVII. The Proof of the Pudding
XVIII. How Kissing Was Discovered
XIX. A Dread Prophecy
XX. The Judgment Sunday
XXI. Dreamers of Dreams
XXII. The Dream Books
XXIII. Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
XXIV. The Bewitchment of Pat
XXV. A Cup of Failure
XXVI. Peter Makes an Impression
XXVII. The Ordeal of Bitter Apples
XXVIII. The Tale of the Rainbow Bridge
XXIX. The Shadow Feared of Man
XXX. A Compound Letter
XXXI. On the Edge of Light and Dark
XXXII. The Opening of the Blue Chest
Editions of The Story Girl
L.C. Page and Company (Boston) published the first edition of The Story Girl in May 1911. This first edition contains cover art and a full-colour frontispiece illustration by George Gibbs. Page licensed reprint editions to A.L. Burt Company (New York) and Grosset and Dunlap (New York).
Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons (London) published the first UK edition of The Story Girl in 1911. George G. Harrap and Company (London) released a new edition in 1925.
Angus and Robertson (Sydney) published the first Australian edition of The Story Girl in 1925, through its Cornstalk Publishing Company imprint. It published subsequent editions throughout the twentieth century.
The Ryerson Press published the first Canadian edition of The Story Girl in September 1944. The Ryerson Press reprinted this edition for almost half a century, later in trade paperback format, even after the press became McGraw-Hill Ryerson in 1970.
Adaptations of The Story Girl
The Story Girl formed part of the basis for the popular television series Road to Avonlea (1990–1996), as did Chronicles of Avonlea, The Golden Road, and Further Chronicles of Avonlea.
Reviews of The Story Girl
Reviews of The Story Girl that have been located so far appeared in periodicals from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Volume 3 of The L.M. Montgomery Reader includes the full text of twenty-five reviews of The Story Girl.
“Not since Anne of Green Gables has Miss Montgomery written anything so charming as this new story. Indeed, it is likely that many of her admirers will declare that The Story Girl is superior to even the first great success scored by the author. Prince Edward Island is again made the scene of a story by this gifted writer, and although the principal characters are children the novel will be read with deep interest by adults, for the delightful heroine charms old and young alike with her magnetic personality and her wonderful stories. There is a rich vein of humor running through the book, but more noteworthy is the evidence that Miss Montgomery has made a thorough study of human nature and has put her knowledge to good use in the development of her new romance.”
—Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph