A review by eatingfiction
The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career by L.M. Montgomery

hopeful inspiring medium-paced

5.0

 In her wonderful little autobiography, L.M. Montgomery spends much of its pages detailing her childhood, despite the fact this is "The story of her career". However, it quickly becomes clear why. Her childhood home and memories on Prince Edward Island are the reason her books are the way they are. Anne, Emily, Pat and all the rest were not just born when LMM put them to paper -- their origins are in the adventures she herself had on the Island. Much of her own soul is in her characters.

“I am grateful that my childhood was spent in a spot where there were many trees, trees of personality, planted and tended by hands long dead, bound up with everything of joy or sorrow that visited our lives. When I have "lived with" a tree for many years it seems to me like a beloved human companion.”

I also enjoyed this as she intended it -- as an inspiration for my own writing craft. LMM worked hard -- so very hard. She was more than talented, she was driven and determined. Her writing routines adapted to fit whatever stage of life she was in, but it did not falter. She wrote so very much, incredibly so. I am in awe of her dedication. She also detailed how writing meant so much to her and did so much for her. She loved it wholly, found so much fulfillment in it. Through all her struggles (and her life is very much one of tragedy) she continued to climb the Alpine Path.