I was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. When I was nine years old, sick in bed, my mom gave me a book called The Orphan, in Hebrew. She had read it in Poland, in Polish, when she was my age and remembered it fondly. Anne of Green Gables had been translated into Polish in 1918, three years after my mom was born. I just loved this book—read it and re-read it.

Green Gables Heritage Place

(From Sarah: This is the seventh guest post in “‘A world of wonderful beauty’: L.M. Montgomery at 150,” which began on October 30th and will continue through to Montgomery’s birthday, November 30th. You can find all the contributions to the blog series here . I hope you’ll join the conversations about LMM in the comments here and on social media: #LMM150. Thanks for celebrating Montgomery’s birthday with us!)

A couple of years later when we were emigrating to the U.S., my mom tried to sweeten the idea of the move by promising me that when I learned English, I could read the other books in this series. I was not happy about leaving my extended family and friends, leaving most of my books behind, and going to a strange country. I was allowed only six books to emigrate with me and of course, my copy of The Orphan came with me to Chicago and was read and re-read many times. It was my comfort in the strange, new and cold environment.

The Orphan

When I learned to read English, I looked for a book called The Orphan in the library—no luck. I asked friends but they had never heard of it. It was not until a few years later, when I learned how to do library searches on authors, that I figured out that The Orphan was called Anne of Green Gables in English. What joy! I took out the rest of the “Anne” series from the library. At that time, in the late 1950s, most of L.M. Montgomery’s books were out of print and forgotten (except by me and maybe a few others), but luckily still on library shelves.

Green Gables

It was not until 1985, when the mini-series adaptation of the book was aired on television, that Montgomery (LMM) came back into favor. Her books were re-issued, and eventually I was able to buy and read many of her novels. Once social media was accessible, we “kindred spirits” found each other. Many were my Jane Austen Society friends. One of the delights of finding my “kindred spirits” was doing group reads led by Sarah Emsley. The Blue Castle has become my favorite LMM book. Somehow I had never read it before the group read.

I love to travel and one of the trips on my list was a pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island. My husband, Jerry, surprised me by planning and executing the entire trip in September, 2005. I was finally able to walk on the paths that LMM had walked on, see rooms that she inhabited and really get a feel for the towns and scenery that she had experienced.

Nili at Green Gables

“Avonlea Village,” Cavendish, PEI

Anne of Green Gables Museum, Park Corner, PEI

Railway Station, Kensington, PEI

L.M. Montgomery’s Birthplace Museum, New London, PEI

I have tried to carry on the tradition that my mom began, by reading Anne with my kids, then with my grandkids. By reading it out loud together, we were able to experience the book cuddled up in bed. As many times as I read the book out loud with them, I could not get past Matthew’s death without crying. I would hand over the book to the child being read to, so that they could finish that chapter. I also shared my love of Anne with nieces, nephews, and friends. I lost count of how many “Anne” books I bought over the years. In addition, I shared my love of The Blue Castle with my daughter, Maggie, and my granddaughter, Kaitlyn. I am happy to say that they love it as much as I do.

Thank you to my “kindred spirit” friends, for allowing me to enjoy LMM with a group.

Nili Olay is a retired finance executive, who ended her career at RJR Nabisco as an Assistant Treasurer. Nili has a BA from the University of Chicago in Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations and an MBA in Accounting from Rutgers University, Newark, NJ. She also taught pre-school for a number of years between her undergraduate studies and her MBA.

Nili’s favourite authors are Jane Austen and L.M. Montgomery. She joined the Jane Austen Society of North America in 1985 and has held various positions such as National Board Member and Treasurer, as well as Regional Coordinator and AGM Coordinator.

When not reading Austen or Montgomery (or other beloved authors like D.E. Stevenson), Nili can often be found providing pro-bono financial advice to non-profits, travelling, practising her harp or piano or socializing with friends. Since retirement, Nili has travelled to out-of-the-way countries like Bhutan or Vietnam. She has been to eighty-seven countries and has combined her love of writing and travelling by publishing travel features and trip reports in International Travel News magazine. Nili tells me she is delighted to contribute her experience of reading L.M. Montgomery to the blog series.

If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll consider recommending it to a friend. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, please sign up to receive future guest posts in “‘A world of wonderful beauty’: L.M. Montgomery at 150.” The next post, “L. M. Montgomery and Emily Carr, Worshippers of the Woods,” is by Marianne Ward.

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Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them.

L.M. Montgomery’s Poem “The Gable Window,” by Hughena Matheson

Anne Lives On, by Naomi MacKinnon

Read more about my books, including St. Paul’s in the Grand Parade, Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues, and Jane Austen and the North Atlantic, here.

Guest post copyright Nili Olay 2024; additional text copyright Sarah Emsley 2024 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.