After Anne by Logan Steiner

 

As a young woman, Maud had dreams bigger than the whole of Prince Edward Island. Her exuberant spirit had always drawn frowns from her grandmother and their neighbors, but she knew she was meant to create, to capture and share the way she saw the world. And the young girl in Maud’s mind became more and more persistent: Here is my story, she said. Here is how my name should be spelled—Anne with an “e.”

But the day Maud writes the first lines of Anne of Green Gables, she gets a visit from the handsome new minister in town, and soon faces a decision: forge her own path as a spinster authoress, or live as a rural minister’s wife, an existence she once likened to “a respectable form of slavery.” The choice she makes alters the course of her life.

With a husband whose religious mania threatens their health and happiness at every turn, the secret darkness that Maud herself holds inside threatens to break through the persona she shows to the world, driving an ever-widening wedge between her public face and private self, and putting her on a path towards a heartbreaking end.

Beautiful and moving, After Anne reveals Maud’s hidden personal challenges while celebrating what was timeless about her life and art—the importance of tenacity and the peaceful refuge found in imagination. 

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About The Author

Logan is a lawyer by day and a writer by baby bedtime. Her writing explores motherhood and the creative life—two things she once thought could never happily coexist.

Logan's debut novel AFTER ANNE will be released on May 30, 2023 by HarperCollins. For fans of Anne of Green Gables and fans of complex, creative women, the novel tells the life story of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Logan also writes a Substack newsletter called The Motherhood Question.

After graduating from Pomona College and Harvard Law School, Logan clerked for three federal judges, spent six years in Big Law, and served for three years as an Assistant United States Attorney. She now specializes in brief writing at a boutique law firm.

Logan lives in Denver with her husband, daughter, and the cranky old man of the house, a Russian Blue cat named Taggart. 

 

My Review

 

This is a read about the life of a woman that shared her gift with the world, and we were all blessed by her.
We meet her in this read as a young woman living with her Grandmother, her own mother died when she was an infant, and her father gave her to her grandparents to raise.
It is good to note that this is a fictional read, and some things have never been proven, and you can take away what you want.
You will find the book flipping on time line, mainly The Birthday! It is a pivotal point in Maud's life, and she makes a decision. While, I don't agree with some of the happenings, it is up to the reader to take what you want from what the author offers.
Life is not always easy, and Maud's life sounds very bleak here! You are left with questions, and I choose to accept that we were blessed by her.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher William Morrow, and was not required to give a positive review.