University of Toronto Press, 2025
Book Four in The L.M. Montgomery Library
Out of the roughly five hundred shorter works of fiction that L.M. Montgomery published in periodicals between 1895 and 1940, about a dozen consisted of multi-chapter serials. As a form of print storytelling, fiction serials offered more complexity than short stories by virtue of their relatively longer word count, but since they appeared in instalments, they had to be structured for readers who had to wait to find out what happened next.
Schooled with Briars: Collected Serials, 1903–1913, the fourth volume in The L.M. Montgomery Library, reprints Montgomery’s six surviving fiction serials published over a ten-year period. Benjamin Lefebvre offers an in-depth analysis of these serials and what they reveal, sometimes problematically, about normative gender roles (including the figure of the “ideal woman”), whiteness and otherness, terminology and ableism, and the ways that her characters’ ability to earn a living is often constrained by complex attitudes about gender and class. He also traces fascinating parallels between this material and her novels, including the iconic Anne of Green Gables. This volume offers readers fresh insights into Montgomery’s career as a contributor to a competitive, metropolitan literary marketplace.
Preceded by A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917, A World of Songs: Selected Poems, 1894–1921, and Twice upon a Time: Selected Stories, 1898–1939.
- Schooled with Briars: Collected Serials, 1903–1913 at L.M. Montgomery Online
- Schooled with Briars: Collected Serials, 1903–1913 at University of Toronto Press
- Schooled with Briars: Collected Serials, 1903–1913 at Goodreads
- Schooled with Briars: Collected Serials, 1903–1913 at 49th Shelf
- The L.M. Montgomery Library at L.M. Montgomery Online
- The L.M. Montgomery Library at University of Toronto Press
Praise
“Benjamin Lefebvre’s new book offers readers six L.M. Montgomery works to (re)discover: stories published as serials over a ten-year span, during which Anne of Green Gables and other beloved classics emerged. Observed through Lefebvre’s perceptive lens, these gems reveal both their sparkle and their shadows from our twenty-first-century perspective.”
—Yoshiko Akamatsu, professor emerita of English literature, Notre Dame Seishin University
“Thanks to Benjamin Lefebvre’s dedicated research, skilful editing, and thoughtful critical analysis, this fourth volume in The L.M. Montgomery Library further confirms Montgomery’s mastery of the major genres that flourished in the popular magazines of the early twentieth century. This collection of serial stories . . . expand[s] our appreciation of Montgomery as a professional writer and an enduring voice of her time.”
—Carole Gerson, professor emerita of English, Simon Fraser University
“This edited work is directed to two audiences: general readers who are interested in fiction by L.M. Montgomery and academic readers and writers whose research focuses on Montgomery and her writings, children’s literature, and fiction by women in Canada. Both audiences will find much that is valuable and thought-provoking in this collection.”
—Wendy Roy, Bateman professor in English, University of Saskatchewan
“In Schooled with Briars, Benjamin Lefebvre not only provides the complete texts of six stories Montgomery published in instalments in periodicals but also situates them within ongoing scholarly discussions of gender, class, race, xenophobia, ability, setting, themes, and Montgomery’s life as a professional woman writer.”
—Carol L. Beran, professor emerita of English, Saint Mary’s College of California
“Schooled with Briars once again reveals Benjamin Lefebvre’s superb research and editing talents. For scholars and readers alike, these delightful, multi-chapter serial stories, originally published in instalments in periodicals, offer a new genre and means of exploring Montgomery’s fiction. Lefebvre’s critical afterword provides expert context, a fresh understanding of Montgomery’s works, and an astute exploration of these long-lost stories.”
—Andrea McKenzie, associate professor, York University
“What a rare gift, to discover forgotten stories by one of the masters of the craft, to find that her mastery extended to tales told in instalments, to experience her voice as it drives our little readerly boats with gasps and spins rather than leisurely strolls through dappled woods. All this, presented with loving context by someone who knows her too well to be taken in or apologize for her missteps, is a treasure.”
—Joe Sutliff Sanders, university associate professor of children’s media, University of Cambridge
Publishing History
Trade paperback, December 2025
Unjacketed hardcover, December 2025
Contents
A Note on the Author (vii–viii)
Abbreviations (ix–x)
Preface (xi–xviii)
A Note on the Text (xix–xxi)
The Running Away of Chester (3–38)
The Bitterness in the Cup (39–97)
Four Winds (99–143)
By Way of the Brick Oven (145–98)
Una of the Garden (199–262)
How We Went to the Wedding (263–90)
Appendix: Revised Scenes (291–99)
Afterword (301–62)
Notes (363–84)
Bibliography (385–94)