Jane Urquhart on Lucy Maud Montgomery
b'Published in 1908, Anne of Green Gables is the first in a series of bestselling novels by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Although often dark and complex, and at times racy, the \\u2018Anne\\u2019 novels are today considered by most to be children\\u2019s books. Inspired by similar girls\\u2019 stories of the time, and her own childhood experiences in rural Prince Edward Island, Montgomery\\u2019s writing has affected generations of women around the world, perhaps none more so than another Canadian, novelist Jane Urquhart, who has just written a biography of Lucy Maud as part of Penguin\\u2019s\\xa0Extraordinary Canadians series. \\xa0 We met at her house to talk about the vast disconnect between the work and the woman; depression, lesbianism and gaiety; about place, truth and memory, narrative and culture, confidence and role models.\\xa0
\\xa0
'