Customer Reviews

Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings

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I am a huge fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery and of her novels. I think I can safely say that I have read every biography or LMM related book available on the market (and then some). Mary Rubio is one of the most well-known LMM scholar and I actually had the opportunity of meeting her in PEI quite a few years ago.

LMM has always been an enigma and through the various biographies written about her (including her very own journals), you always get the feeling that you are still missing huge pieces of her life - that she is still, somehow, managing to remain a mystery.

All of this changed for me when I starting reading The Gift of Wings by Mary Rubio.

This is, withouth a doubt, the most comprehensive book every written on Maud and FINALLY answer so many of the "mystery" questions that have surrounded Maud's life and death for the last 60 years.

The Gift of Wings gives a wonderful glimpse of Maud's life as a youngster and how much she loved PEI. As I was reading, I could actually feel myself in PEI - in the 1800's. The book continues with the story of Ewan (Ewen) and Maud's meeting and subsequent wedding as well as their many moves and the birth of their children (including a third child that did not survive).

Throughout this book, you will find some little gems that had never previously been revealed. This is due in large part by the fact that Maud's son Stuart - met with Rubio on many occasions, before his death to talk about his mother and to give Rubio full access to all of Maud's journals and various writings etc. It is amazing to me to think what would have happened had all of these precious papers been left to Chester, Maud's other son.

There are some great black and whites shots of Maud, her friends and family.

What I also loved about this book is the fact that Rubio really dug deep into the family aspect. She honestly describes Chester (wow!) and Stuart as well as the problem Maud had with Ewan and medication.

FINALLY, this book also announces and clarifies that the "mystery" cause of LMM's death was potentially suicide - although there is some speculation that Maud may simply have accidentally overdosed on the drugs she has become addicted to (prescription).

NOWHERE in any other biography has this ever been mentioned in such a forthright manner. I always felt odd that this somehow was the worst kept secret and yet, never admitted to.

There is also a very interesting look at Maud's problem child - Chester.

Having said all of this, I always thought that although Maud would be the person I would most love to meet (which dead person would you love to talk with) I also always felt that while I would highly respect her as a writer, I probably would not like her as a person. She sounded incredibly vain and not particularly open to honestly discussing feelings, etc.

Although I understand that the time period was different, Maud got very despondent over war, Chester, money, etc. These are still issues that we face today and somehow I feel as though she tended to amplify in her own mind how horrible her life was. It seems to me, she was not living anything that other people were not living - and she had more money than most.

Still, this book is addictive and I could not put it down - which is a miracle since the book has over 600 pages.

This is "the" LMM biography. I suggest you buy it and savour it.

Mary Rubio's biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery is both an interesting read in and of itself, and a fascinating companion piece for readers of the journals. Whereas it is clear that Rubio has substantial affection for her subject, she does present some of the less- than-glorious aspects of the author unflinchingly. Mary Rubio clearly admires her subject, but does not do so blindly. She is forgiving of Montgomery's human failings, and doesn't address some aspects of the journals in that forgiveness.

One of the most interesting passages of the book considers the strange tale of Herman Leard, although perhaps not in as an in-depth as it might have been. Rubio does make an excellent attempt to state both the facts about Leard (his engagement to another woman at the same time) and the conflicts within Montgomery's account. At no point does she speculate as to the reasons Montgomery may have had in preserving the tale when certain elements of it were clearly tweaked for dramatic impact by Montgomery. Still, while never condemning Montgomery, Rubio seeks to be fair to all sides. A rare thing in a biography written by an individual who spent decades of her life compiling the research.

Rubio's book is exceptionally well balanced particularly considering her great fondness for the subject. She takes the time and effort to consider Ewan MacDonald (Montgomery's husband) as a full person also, and in doing so helps solve the mystery of what actually ailed the man. Since MacDonald seems to only exist in the journals as the millstone around Montgomery's neck, this information finally gives the man some dignity of his own.

The subject of Montgomery's very difficult son, Chester, is addressed honestly and with no attempt to conceal his faults. This is in sharp contrast to Montgomery's own description of him within the journals, where her devastation over his conduct was often mystifying because she did seek to spare her family by concealing details.

One of the best things about this biography is Mary Rubio's detailed descriptions of what was going on in Montgomery's life while she was writing each of her books. She examines the possible motivations behind some of the subject matter, and shines a new light on several of LMM's books in doing so.

An excellent, very fast-paced read and I believe it would be of interest to individuals not particularly familiar with Lucy Maud Montgomery. Mary Rubio resists sensationalizing any of the information she presents and presents a kind, but not sugar-coated look into the life of a woman who has often been termed an enigma.

This will probably be the definitive biography of L.M.Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables and many other books. It is extraordinarily well researched, a good read, compassionate, and fair-minded. To the readers of her books Montgomery seemed a happy and relatively carefree person, and to her friends and the congregations of her husband, a Presbyterian minister, they seemed a happy and well-balanced couple. It was when her Selected Journals were published in five volumes that it became evident that she suffered from depression through most of her life, and her husband was afflicted with severe mental illness. The sombre picture of the Journals shocked those who had known her, and they were not, in fact, the whole story. She used her Journals for therapeutic purposes, and this caused them to be an outlet for what she could never admit in public. As for her husband's illness, and her own increasing illness in her last years, that was mainly caused by the overuse of bromides and barbiturates, sometimes prescribed by doctors and sometimes not,which in those years were not understood to poison the body and unhinge the mind. This makes the story less than pleasant, as does the appalling behavior of her eldest son. But the book is sympathetic to Montgomery and to her husband, and is not all sadness.

Very interesting biography. However, unfortunately not quite as unbiased as I'd hoped to see from somebody who's done SUCH extensive research on her subject matter (of course I understand no biography can ever be completely unbiased... I guess "neutral" is a better word).

My initial impression was that I was glad I'd read the journals before reading this. First of all, there were events Rubio skimmed over very quickly, where I was glad to have a bit more background information than the biography gave. Secondly, I felt it provided me with a more nuanced view of LMM's life than I would have had if I'd only had the biography as a source.

The book is generally well-written, although I did feel like Rubio occasionally included too much background information. I understand the desire to share 20+ years worth of research, but I felt the book would have flowed better if she'd limited the detailed information about various people's ancestors and had used the space thus freed up to include the endnotes she was forced to leave out instead. Also, there were many repetitions, where Rubio repeated herself practically word-for-word over a space of just a few pages - close enough, anyway, that I noticed.

I really appreciated this "condensed" version of the journals - it's much, much easier to keep all the details of various events (the different lawsuits in particular) straight when they're presented with all the information in one place, rather than - as necessary in the journals - spread out over the course of several YEARS where you forget the first details before the last have even happened yet.

However, I do think that Rubio unfortunately drew a lot of conclusions that I don't believe she had grounds to make - not based on the information given in GoW anyway. Of course she may have had other interviews etc. to base her theories on, but as these were never mentioned in GoW the reader doesn't know about them, and it therefore comes across as idle speculation. The most obvious case is the alleged importance of a person in LMM's life, based solely on a page in one of her scrapbooks. Based on this information alone there simply isn't enough evidence to state anything for sure one way or the other. I for one didn't agree with her interpretation, and was sad to notice how Rubio twisted a lot of events in the following to suggest that her interpretation was the correct one. It may have been - I don't dispute that - but because of the way it was written, there doesn't seem to be enough evidence, and the entire speculation comes across as gossipy and sensational. Something I was very sad to see in what I'd hoped would be a serious account.

Don't get me wrong, it mostly is. It just wasn't as unbiased as I'd expected, and Rubio seemed at times almost patronizing towards LMM in places - putting a lot of emphasis on small events that made LMM end up looking petty and unkind. She may have been / probably was at times, but these unnecessary connecting of unrelated circumstances stood out like a sore thumb. Once specific example is the end note #38 of the Norval years, where Rubio makes a very unfavourable comparison that I think completely uncalled for and unjust.

That said, I still really enjoyed the book - especially the extra insights and small details that I didn't already know and that were based on Rubio's many and detailed interviews with LMM's various maids, friends and of course Stuart himself. Rubio's obviously passionate about her work, and it clearly shows in her writing, making it engaging and easily read.

So definitely a very, very interesting book - but like with all other biographies it should be taken with a grain of salt and a lot of common "source criticism", as no biography can ever claim to be 100% unbiased.

I read a lot of biographies and often find myself skimming long passages to get past the endless recitation of facts. But I read every word in The Gift of Wings, because this biography is beautifully crafted from beginning to end. Mary Rubio provides detailed analysis of the events of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life, comparing what she wrote about in her private journals to corroborating evidence from other sources and adding context from historical events. Rubio's insightful analysis is critical to the success of the work.

After reading The Gift of Wings, I gained a deeper level of respect for Montgomery, who I had simply considered to be a children's book author. She was a prodigious writer while juggling multiple roles as wife, mother, church leader, and caregiver. As the primary breadwinner for her family, she knew she could not indulge her anxiety and depressive episodes and used her personal journals as a safety valve.

While The Gift of Wings is an eye-popping 597 pages (before endnotes), it is broken up into manageable sections. This book is not only a fascinating biography of one of Canada's most beloved authors, it also provides insight into depression and women's issues in the early part of the twentieth century.

Mary Henley Rubio has written a fine biography and companion to the Journals of Lucy Maud Montgomery. After I had read the Journals with fascination and not a little sorrow I was left with wanting more, wanting to know the rest of the story, as they say. Rubio has provided that. With her own flowing storytelling style Rubio has filled in the gaps of the Journals and let us see other sides of Maud, her family and her wide circle of friends and writing colleagues. Rubio has also handled the more difficult aspects of Maud's character and circumstances respectfully, not condoning but explaining human foibles and foolishness with compassion. I have come away from this book with a broader understanding of Montgomery as a person and writer as well as a broader understanding of my home and native land's literature.

This book is an excellent read, hard to put down and satisfying to the finish.

I have been waiting for a book like this for many years, as I have been a big fan of L.M. Montgomery since I was about 11 years old. I have read biographies of Montgomery in the past, and still had many questions. This book really helps to answer those questions. It is a throughly enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend it.

This book is a must for all Montgomery devotees. It`s the most comprehensive and in-depth biography so far. Having been written by one of the world`s leading experts on the famous islander, Mary Rubio, who has been studying Montgomery`s life and works for a few decades, it definitely provides more insight and credibility than others. Based on a multitude of resources, journals, letters and personal interviews with people who knew the writer directly included, this biography is a unique opportunity to confront certain well-rooted assumptions or misconceptions about Maud. Rubio, despite the fact of being the editor of Montgomery`s journals, does not take them at face-value, but tries to delve deeper beyond the surface, without the effect of being sensational or too presumptuous. She does that in a very compelling manner, striking a fine balance between being informative and engaging, proving her excellent narrative skill. All in all, this book is highly recommendable to anyone fascinated by Maud Montgomery Macdonald and her literary creations and looking to learn more about the person who gave birth to red-headed Anne, Emily and others. I promise you won`t be disappointed.

Well written result of decades of research, this book is the definitive biography of Maud. Even if you had to pay full price it would be worth every penny! Chock full of interesting details and insights.

This book is extremely well written and really takes you into the mind of L. M. Montgomery and the world in which she lived. If you have read her Journals and want to know more background, you will really enjoy this book.