Logan Steiner and Elizabeth Blackwell (IN PERSON)
Join us for a special event in celebration of the historical fiction genre! Logan Steiner discusses her debut novel After Anne, about Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery, with fellow historical fiction writer Elizabeth Blackwell. The two share insights into the genre, the research that goes into it, and what it’s like to bring history to life again in a new way. Get the truth about historical fiction!
This is an in-person program at the American Writers Museum. This program will also be livestreamed, and you can register for the link to the online broadcast here.
More about After Anne:
A stunning and unexpected portrait of Lucy Maud Montgomery, creator of one of literature’s most prized heroines, whose personal demons were at odds with her most enduring legacy—the irrepressible Anne of Green Gables.
“Dear old world,” she murmured, “you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.” —L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908
As a young woman, Maud had dreams bigger than the whole of Prince Edward Island. Her exuberant spirit had always drawn frowns from her grandmother and their neighbors, but she knew she was meant to create, to capture and share the way she saw the world. And the young girl in Maud’s mind became more and more persistent: Here is my story, she said. Here is how my name should be spelled—Anne with an “e.”
But the day Maud writes the first lines of Anne of Green Gables, she gets a visit from the handsome new minister in town, and soon faces a decision: forge her own path as a spinster authoress, or live as a rural minister’s wife, an existence she once likened to “a respectable form of slavery.” The choice she makes alters the course of her life.
With a husband whose religious mania threatens their health and happiness at every turn, the secret darkness that Maud herself holds inside threatens to break through the persona she shows to the world, driving an ever-widening wedge between her public face and private self, and putting her on a path towards a heartbreaking end.
Praise for After Anne:
“Steiner writes with evident love for her character, an impressive command of the history, and lush language that conjures the gentle sunshine and floral scented breezes of Prince Edward Island. Readers will delight in entering Maud’s world and learning of the heart and mind of this heroine.”
—Allison Pataki, bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
“After Anne is imbued with the love of an author for her character — both on and off the page. Logan Steiner made me want to scurry right back to revisit the Anne of Green Gables books, as well as delve into every one of L.M. Montgomery’s journals.”
—Sarah Miller, author of Marmee
“After Anne is the never-told story behind one of literature’s most enduring characters. Logan Steiner’s beautifully written tale of the triumphs and tragedies of L. Maud Montgomery is a captivating read for anyone who grew up wishing they could adventure around Avonlea with Anne of Green Gables.”
—Sarah James, internationally bestselling author of The Woman with Two Shadows
LOGAN STEINER is a lawyer by day and a writer by baby bedtime. Her writing explores motherhood and the creative life. Logan’s debut novel After Anne will be released on May 30, 2023 by HarperCollins. For fans of Anne of Green Gables and complex, creative women, the novel tells the life story of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Logan also writes a Substack newsletter called The Creative Sort. After graduating from Pomona College and Harvard Law School, Logan clerked for three federal judges, spent six years in Big Law, and served for three years as an Assistant United States Attorney. She now specializes in brief writing at a boutique law firm. Logan lives in Denver with her husband, daughter, and the cranky old man of the house, a Russian Blue cat named Taggart.
ELIZABETH BLACKWELL is the author of While Beauty Slept, On a Cold Dark Sea, and Red Mistress. She graduated from Northwestern University with a double major in history and communications and later received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She worked as a restaurant hostess, waitress, TV station receptionist, medical school secretary, magazine editor, and freelance writer before becoming a historical-fiction author–her favorite job so far. Elizabeth lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, three children, an impressive collection of long underwear, and an ever-growing stack of must-read books.