Warning: If you have a visual impairment, use the manuscript transcript version including the Lucy Maud Montgomery’s foot notes and contextual annotation references.

Chapter 5

82

then. (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)It seems to be my fate.(end superscript) Father and mother had both come from places far away and it was well-knoun known they hadn’t any relatives living. Finally Mrs. Thomas said she’d take me, She brought though she was poor and had a drunken husband. She brought me up by hand. Do you know if there is anything in being brought up by hand that ought to make people who are brought up that way better than other people? Because whenever I was naughty Mrs. Thomas would say ask me how I could be such a bad girl when she had brought me up by hand—reproachful like.

“Mr. and Mrs. Thomas moved away from Bolingbroke to Marysville, and I lived with them until I was eight years old. I helped


PHOTO ANNOTATION

soft green cover with a young girl (with two red braids) holding a cat

"Father and mother": Readers of Montgomery's novel may appreciate this mention of Anne's deceased mother and father since Anne is dedicated to the memory of Montgomery's own parents. Montgomery provided a few, but very vivid, details about Anne's life before the orphanage. Budge Wilson used these details to build a credible story, commissioned and authorized by Montgomery's heirs, to serve as a prequel for Anne of Green Gables. Released in 2008, the hundredth anniversary of the publication of Montgomery's world-famous novel, Before Green Gables has achieved notable success.
Penguin