Collections of Non-Fiction

Collections of non-fiction by L.M. Montgomery consist of a book of biographical essays and a reprint of her celebrity memoir.

In chronological order: Courageous Women (1934) | The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career (1974)

Courageous Women (1934)

Courageous Women is L.M. Montgomery’s twentieth book, written in collaboration with Marian Keith and Mabel Burns McKinley and published in fall 1934 by McClelland and Stewart. It consists of twenty-one essays on women who had made major contributions to nursing, the arts, politics, missionary work, and the war effort. Montgomery’s name was placed first on the title page, which does not reflect alphabetical order or the proportion of work done by the three authors: indeed, although the authors of individual essays are not stated in the book, Montgomery’s comments in her journals indicate that she wrote only three of the twenty-one essays, and these were arranged as the first three chapters.

Montgomery’s three chapters are included in The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 1: A Life in Print.

Citation: Montgomery, L.M. Marian Keith, and Mabel Burns McKinley. Courageous Women. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1934.

1. The Maid of France: Joan of Arc (1–11)

2. The Angel of the Crimea: Florence Nightingale (12–21)

3. The Great White Ma: Mary Slessor of Calabar (22–31)

4. A Brave Deed: Laura Secord (32–40)

5. Happiness in a Log-Cabin: Catharine Parr Traill (41–48)

6. A Noble Girl Queen: Queen Victoria (49–57)

7. Courage in Danger: Madeleine de Verchères (58–66)

8. From Darkness to Light: Helen Keller (67–75)

9. A Friend of the School: Ada May Courtice (76–83)

10. The Golden Chrysanthemum: Caroline MacDonald (84–97)

11. A Loyal Pioneer of the West: Elizabeth Louise Mair (98–106)

12. Caring for Indians: Anna J. Gaudin (107–15)

13. A War Heroine: Edith Cavell (116–24)

14. Braving the White North: Sadie Stringer (125–34)

15. Canada’s Queen of Song: Madame Albani (135–47)

16. The Princess of the Paddle: (Tekahionwake) Pauline Johnson (148–60)

17. A Leader in Education: Aletta Elise Marty (161–69)

18. A Pupil at School: Dr. Margaret Mackellar (170–77)

19. A Daughter of the Empire: Margaret Polson Murray (178–85)

20. Service for Others: Lady Tilley (186–93)

21. Champion of Dumb Animals: Marshall Saunders (194–203)

Reviews (4)

The Canadian Churchman (Toronto), 29 November 1934 (G.E.G.). Scrapbook of Reviews, 456. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 328 (as “[Vitality and Inspiration]”).

The Canadian Bookman (Toronto), December 1934, 168–69. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 328 (as “[Portraits of Immortal Women]”).

Gazette (Montreal), 8 December 1934, 16 (“For Girl Readers”).

Globe (Toronto), 23 December 1934, 8 (M.H.P., “Vivid Collaboration”).

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The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career (1974)

The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career is a volume that reproduces the full text of a 25,000-word memoir written by L.M. Montgomery and originally published in six instalments in the Toronto magazine Everywoman’s World in 1917, although it omits the photographs and captions that accompanied the magazine text. It was published in book form by Fitzhenry and Whiteside without a copyright date in 1974. A second edition followed in 1997. In 2005, Nimbus Publishing of Halifax published a Green Gables Edition of the text, to be sold exclusively at Green Gables House in Cavendish.

Citation: Montgomery, L.M. The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career. N.p.: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, n.d.

Synopsis

Lucy Maud Montgomery, the creator of Anne of Green Gables, wrote this charming autobiographical memoir when she was in the middle of her career. It is the most complete account she ever published of her childhood and early years as a writer. It originally appeared as a series of magazine articles in 1917, and this new edition is its first republication in any form.

L.M. Montgomery was born one hundred years ago, on November 30, 1874, in Clifton, Prince Edward Island. Her childhood was spent on the Island and her evocation of rural life there at the end of the 19th Century is extraordinarily attractive, moving and frequently humourous. In describing her family and friends and surroundings she reveals the source of many of the people and places and incidents of her novels, and shows how she came to adapt them.

“The Alpine Path” of the title refers to the long climb she had to achieve success as a writer. She began in childhood, and never wavered in her resolve. Her ambition was to become an accomplished professional writer—she never desired fame or greatness, and the remarkable success that came to her with the publication of Anne of Green Gables (which was rejected many times by publishers) and its sequels, and her other books, was the consequence of many years of hard steady work.

All those who have enjoyed the Anne books will be fascinated by this delightful background story by the author; anyone who knows Prince Edward Island will be delighted by her descriptions of the countryside and its people; no one who reads The Alpine Path can fail to be delighted and impressed by the personal appeal of L.M. Montgomery.

Excerpts

Excerpted in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Laurie Di Mauro, 175–78. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994.

Reviews (6)

Lethbridge (AB) Herald, 14 December 1974, 5 (Elsie Morris).

Vancouver Sun, 27 December 1974, 30A (Alan Dawe, “Scrap from the Barrel”).

Toronto Star, 1 February 1975, G7 (Sandra Martin, “L.M. Montgomery—Illusions Lost”).

The Canadian Author and Bookman 50, no. 3 (Spring 1975): 27–28 (Helen FitzPatrick).

In Review: Canadian Books for Children 9, no. 3 (Summer 1975): 36 (Callie Israel).

Canadian Book Review Annual 1998, edited by Joyce M. Wilson (Toronto: CBRA, 1999), 75 (Elisabeth Anne MacDonald-Murray).