Emily Of New Moon

Montgomery, born in 1874 on Prince Edward Island, Canada, wrote 20 novels, over 500 short stories and poems, and 30 essays. Most of her novels feature a heroine, and many of the titles have the following format: “‘Heroine’s Name’ of ‘Specific Home or Location,’” such as Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon, Pat of Silverbush, and Rilla of Ingleside.

Montgomery’s heroines have a lot of qualities and life experiences in common with each other and with Montgomery. For example, many of the girls are orphans living with distant family members or, in Anne’s case, with strangers she’d never met before. They are intelligent, imaginative, and sensitive, often very connected to the natural world, and prone to inventing imaginary friends.

Montgomery has stated that she is like Emily from the Emily of New Moon series because of her explicit desire to be a writer. In 1917, before writing the Emily series, Montgomery wrote an autobiographical essay called The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career. “The Alpine Path” is a symbolic concept in Emily of New Moon representing her path to becoming a writer. Montgomery published her first book, Anne of Green Gables, in 1908 at age 32.