Mary Henley Rubio's biography Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings is yet another depressing book that needs to be taken in small doses and balanced with very different material. It is similar in that respect to the biographies of novelists Stella Benson, Jean Rhys, Antonia White and Mary Webb.
Detecting themes and patterns and investigating common elements of various kinds in these writers, on the whole, miserable and tormented lives is an interesting exercise. There is often a web of connections in these and similar cases.
Some of this material is covered in an article about Jean Rhys and Antonia White and in another about Stella Benson and L. M. Montgomery. The next permutation is of L. M. Montgomery and Mary Webb. This article covers a few common elements and connections I noticed in their lives in addition to the two suspicious deaths.
Some basic attributes
Both novelists were of Celtic origin.
Both novelists were small and dark; their rivals in the suspicious deaths scenarios were fair and much more attractive.
L. M. Montgomery didn't have much physical stamina and she was always very susceptible to colds, flu and other infections. Mary Webb's health was very bad too.
Both had husbands who became increasingly distant and often escaped to other households where they were welcome and there was a better atmosphere.
L. M. Montgomery was very strongly attached to her beloved Prince Edward Island and Mary Webb to her idyllic Shropshire countryside. Neither was much of a town person.
Both novelists have been honoured in recent years with commissioned artworks.
A bronze, life-sized sculpture of L. M. Montgomery was unveiled in the garden of her former home in Leaskdale in June 2015:
A bronze bust of Mary Webb was unveiled in Shewsbury in July 2016:
Buchan, Kipling and Baldwin connections
L. M. Montgomery met John Buchan at a reception in his honour: he was the new Governor General of Canada. She didn't find his fiction very enjoyable, and she was not impressed with him either. They did share a dislike of snakes though. Mary Webb had a connection with John Buchan in that he admired her work and wrote an introduction to one of her books.
Both novelists liked Rudyard Kipling's works.
In January 1927, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, who was a cousin of Rudyard Kipling's, wrote this to Mary Webb:
“I hope you will not think it an impertinence on my part if I tell you with what delight I have read Precious Bane....I think it is really a first-class piece of work and I have not enjoyed a book so much for years.”
In June 1927, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin wrote this to L. M. Montgomery:
“I do not know whether I shall be so fortunate during the hurried visit to Canada but it would give me keen pleasure to have an opportunity of shaking your hand and thanking you for the pleasure your books have given me. I am hoping that I shall be allowed to go to Prince Edward Island for I must see Green Gables before I return home. Not that I wouldn't be at home at Green Gables! “
In August 1927, Lucy Maud attended the formal garden party given in honour of Mr Baldwin and the two royal princes who came with him. She chatted with him for around half an hour.
Mary Webb died in October 1927. It was Stanley Baldwin who was responsible for the increased demand for her books: in 1928 he acclaimed her work and called her a neglected genius.
Stanley Baldwin (centre) in Canada in August 1927, with Edward, Prince of Wales on the right:
Weavers and Webbs
L. M. Montgomery was friends and neighbours with a family called Webb. A relative of hers had married into the Webbs, who lived on a farm that was the model for Green Gables.
L. M. Montgomery had a correspondent called Ephraim Weber.
Weber is a name of German origin meaning 'weaver'. Webbe or Webb was originally an occupational name; it referred specifically to a male weaver. One of the main male characters in Mary Webb's Precious Bane is Kester Woodseaves the weaver.
When it comes to complex connections between various people of interest both fictional and real, one of L. M. Montgomery books has a very appropriate title:
