The Years Before “Anne” is a book-length study by Francis W.P. Bolger that draws extensively on Montgomery’s scrapbooks and on the text of her 25,00o-word memoir, “The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career,” to tell the story of Montgomery’s early career. It was published by the Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation in 1974 and was reprinted by Nimbus Publishing (Halifax) in 1991.
Included in the volume is the full text of Montgomery’s adolescent letters to her friend Penzie Macneill as well as many of her earliest publications: the poems “On Cape Le Force” (28–32), “June” (47–48), “Farewell” (49–51), “The Wreck of the ‘Marcopolo,’ 1883” (135–39), “The Violet’s Spell” (143–44), “‘Which Has the Most Patience under the Ordinary Cares and Trials of Life—Man or Woman?’” (159), “Fisher Lassies” (160–61), “The Marked Door” (172–74), and “A Country Boy” (174–75), the story “Our Charivari” (147–50, 157–58), and the miscellaneous pieces “The Wreck of the Marco Polo” (33–36), “A Western Eden” (37–40, 47), “From Prince Albert to P.E. Island” (52–59), “‘Portia’—A Study” (140–42), “High School Life in Saskatchewan” (68–69), and “A Girl’s Place at Dalhousie College” (161–68).
Contents
Preface (iii)
1. The Author’s Background (1–24)
2. Prelude to a Literary Career—First Successes (25–61)
3. With the Montgomerys in Prince Albert (63–82)
4. Letters from Prince Albert (83–134)
5. Lucy Maud’s College Years (135–70)
6. International Fame with Anne (171–98)
Epilogue (199–223)
Bibliography (225–27)
L.M. Montgomery’s Published Works (229)
Metadata
Author: Francis W.P. Bolger
Publisher: The Prince Edward Island Heritage Foundation (n.p.)
Date: 1974
Format: Trade paperback
Trim: 5.75” x 8.45”
Pagination: viii + 229 pp.