A few weeks ago, the hubs and I drove up to Prince Edward Island, for a quiet, blissful stretch of days (our third) on the Island’s north shore.
We first visited PEI a few summers ago, but I have known and loved it for a long time: through the beloved books of L.M. Montgomery, who introduced me to such heroines as Jane Stuart, Emily Byrd Starr, Sara Stanley, and – of course – Anne Shirley.
My mom handed me the first three Anne books when I was a child, and I read and reread them until the corners of the paperbacks were worn soft. I later did the same with the remaining five books in the series, and I still have most of my beat-up Bantam copies (though I had to replace the first one after it went missing). I’ve picked up various beautiful editions of several Anne books over the years, and I’d love to buy the entire set in the recent lovely Sourcebooks and Tundra incarnations. But when I want to find a particular passage or dive into a whole book again, I always reach for my childhood copies, their heft comforting in my hands.
I took a stack of books to PEI. This is typical vacation behavior for me, but it’s especially tempting when we drive, because luggage and space limits aren’t a problem. On our first trip to PEI a few years ago, I tucked a couple of Anne books into my suitcase on a whim. I hadn’t reread them in a while, but I thought I might want to flip through them while I was there.
What I hadn’t quite expected: I hardly wanted to read anything else.
Montgomery is a master of the elegant description, and her love for the Island comes through in the voices of her heroines – all of whom are deeply rooted in the Island’s rust-red soil. The green fields with their soft red furrows, the glimpses of blue sea around so many corners, the fields and woods and rolling hills, the rocky and sandy beaches of the north shore, were at once entirely new and utterly familiar to me.
I spent hours on that first trip rereading passages from a couple of Anne books and Jane of Lantern Hill, and I did the same thing when we went back last summer. This time, I dove straight into Anne’s House of Dreams, and I didn’t even regret ignoring the other books sitting in my tote bag. (I suppose I should have known this would happen – but I couldn’t not bring them. Just in case.)
For three days, I was right where I wanted to be: on the Island’s north shore in body and spirit. Sinking my toes into the sand, wading in the surf, and also walking and talking with Anne and Gilbert, Leslie Moore and Miss Cornelia and Captain Jim. I pictured Anne and Gilbert’s little white house of dreams, with its glorious garden, more vividly than ever before. And I watched the sky and the waves and the sunsets with as much love as Anne herself, I feel sure.
There’s magic, sometimes, in reading a book in the place where it’s either set or was written. I have read A Moveable Feast in a Paris hotel room, Gaudy Night in Oxford parks and cafes, Daphne Kalotay’s novels while learning the particular Boston streets she describes.
There can also be magic in utter escape from your current reality: I’m too fond of Harry Potter and Jodi Taylor’s time-travel series not to know that. But when you visit a place you’ve loved for so long, and the real, physical truth of it is just as wonderful as you imagined, it can be lovely to luxuriate in being right where you are, on and off the page.
Have you ever visited a place just because you’ve read about it – or purposely matched your reading material to your location? I’d love to hear about it, if you have.
Thank you so much for this Anne reminder….I am going to request this one from the library today. Enjoy your lovely writing and my mother did the same with me as a child suggesting Anne. I actually have original book covers framed on my wall of important reminders. Unfortunately, I have not been able to visit such places…only in my mind.
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What a lovely post! I too have read Anne on PEI, but not since I was twelve. I completely agree, there is something extra special about reading a book in its setting. (I read PERSUASION in Bath!)
Glad you had a wonderful time (as always) on the Island.
This. Is. Dreamy!!
How lovely. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to match place and reading material so perfectly, though I came close by reading Hemingway in the FL Keys. If I ever make it to Cornwall I’m bringing some Rosamunde Pilcher with me, and if I ever make it to PEI, Anne will be in my bag!
I also love reading books in their natural setting. Last week my family took a holiday to Bamburgh in Northumberland. I took along The Pearl Thief and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I know that she loves that part of the world (she’d been tweeting pictures of her own time there the previous week). And while neither of those books is set there, the Northumberland coast does feature in a few key scenes in Code Name Verity. It definitely makes me feel more connected to the author and the story to be sat in the landscape that provided inspiration for the writing.
Oh, I love Elizabeth Wein. That sounds wonderful!