Is it because I grew up in the desert? My imagination has always harbored a fascination for islands and lighthouses. I think whatever is far away from our everyday world acquires a certain mystique. And in my desert world, when temperatures soared into the 90s or even reached the100s in September, I loved escaping to stories with sea-swept islands and lighthouses. One of my favorites now is Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery. Is Captain Jim's Lighthouse Real? When I re

When L. M. Montgomery published Anne's House of Dreams in 1917, she was far from home. Like all her books, Anne's House of Dreams is infused with the author's love for a small island. A place of winding red roads and a wealth of lighthouses, Prince Edward Island is described so lyrically in Montgomery's writing that I feel her deep connection and love of place along with her. When she wrote this entry in her journal on June 1, 1909, she had no way of knowing she'd be leaving

Autumn on Prince Edward Island My husband and I started out married life in an apartment near the University of California, Berkeley. When I began working in the library there, I would just happen to walk along Telegraph Avenue on my way home. Lining that street is a bibliophile's dream: a different bookstore with practically every step. I wandered into one of the bookshops and discovered a volume called the The Anne of Green Gables Treasury of Days, edited by Carolyn Strom C

Lucy Maud Montgomery felt a chill when she opened the door to the clothes room. It was an early spring day on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Although the frost had started to lift, the unfinished room in the attic made her shiver. She stepped inside, seeing the usual cast-offs her thrifty grandmother could not bring herself to discard. Her gaze fell on a hatbox among the jumbled items. She reached out, and then her hand paused. Raw discouragement filled her again as she reme