Audiobook · read by volunteers
Story Girl
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942)
Read by Annie Coleman Rothenberg, Karen Savage, Betsie Bush, Kristin LeMoine, Mary Anderson, Sharmini Kumar, Marlene DeGrood, Sonserae Leese-Calver, Heather Barnett, Mike Wilson · 32 chapters · 8 h 31
About the book
One summer, a houseful of cousins gathers at an old farm on Prince Edward Island, and the greatest attraction is one particular girl. Sara Stanley is known as the Story Girl, because she has a tale for every occasion, from the ghostly to the hilarious. When Felix and Beverley King arrive to spend a season in their uncle's home, they find themselves swept into a world of orchards, mischief, secrets and bargains, with the Story Girl at the centre of it all. L. M. Montgomery, the creator of Anne of Green Gables, fills these pages with affectionate humour and lively children who get into plenty of trouble. Ten readers share the thirty-two chapters of this recording, about eight and a half hours of warm, nostalgic listening. Warm, funny and full of sunshine.
Introduction
Lucy Maud Montgomery, who lived from 1874 to 1942, was a Canadian novelist. She became world famous with Anne of Green Gables in 1908, a book that sold in huge numbers and made her one of the best-known writers in the English-speaking world. Her stories are set in the countryside of Prince Edward Island, her home province, and they combine close observation of rural life with generous humour and a talent for memorable young characters.
The Story Girl was published in 1911 and is often counted among her finest achievements outside the Anne series. It follows a group of cousins during one long summer, and the structure is episodic, a series of adventures and entertainments that echo the rhythm of a childhood summer. Montgomery brings in stories within the story, told by the Story Girl herself, and these tales give the book a layered quality that is part fairy tale and part family legend. Behind the high spirits there is a gentle awareness of how quickly childhood passes.
Readers who love Anne will find the same humour here, and the same warm attention to the details of orchards and gardens. The book was written for young people but has long been enjoyed by adults, and it is also a rich portrait of a vanished rural society.
This recording has thirty-two chapters and lasts about eight and a half hours. Ten LibriVox volunteers share the reading, so the voices change with the chapters, and the effect is something like a gathering of storytellers around a fire. It is a good companion for long drives, quiet weekends and anyone who feels a pang of nostalgia for an imagined summer.
Public domain
Lucy Maud Montgomery died in 1942: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text