Jane of Lantern Hill
First edition
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| Author | Lucy Maud Montgomery |
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| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | McClelland & Stewart |
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Publication date
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1937 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback, Hardcover) |
| Pages | 217 |
| OCLC | 35397190 |
Jane of Lantern Hill is a novel by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. The book was adapted into a 1990 telefilm, Lantern Hill, by Sullivan Films, the producer of the highly popular Anne of Green Gables television miniseries and the television series Road to Avonlea.
Montgomery began formulating an idea on May 11, 1936, began writing on August 21, and wrote the last chapter on February 3, 1937. She finished typing up the manuscript on February 25, as she could not hire a typist to do it for her. This novel was dedicated to "JL", her companion cat.
The novel was written at Montgomery's house, "Journey's End"; the environment influenced Montgomery's writing to create a positive setting for Jane in Toronto. The unusual episode in chapter 37 involving a lion was based on a similar incident Montgomery had been aware of that had occurred in Atlantic Canada several years before, which she detailed in a letter to GB MacMillan on February 23, 1938.
On April 17, 1939, she began working on a new Jane book, but the sequel was never completed.
Jane Victoria Stuart, called Victoria by her family, lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her mother, grandmother, and aunt. Her grandmother is very strict and is jealous of anything that her daughter Robin (Jane's mother) loves. Jane does not like having to live with her grandmother and wishes she and her mother could escape, though she knows her mother will never have enough backbone to stand up to her grandmother and leave. Jane believes her father to be dead, but is eventually told he is alive and living far away on Prince Edward Island, her birthplace. Jane's only friend is Josephine Turner, Jody for short, an orphan who lives and works as a servant at the boardinghouse next door. Jane also likes to cook, but her grandmother will not allow her to practice.
One day, a letter from her estranged father arrives, asking that Jane stay with him for the summer on the Island. Jane is very reluctant about going, but one of her uncles says that it would be best if she went. Upon arriving at the island, Jane meets her Aunt Irene (her father's sister) and takes an instant dislike to her. The next morning, she meets her father for the first time and loves him from the start. The two buy a little house on Lantern Hill and Jane takes on the role of housekeeper. Jane soon becomes friends with all the neighbors, such as the Snowbeam family and the Jimmy Johns (so named to distinguish them from a James Garland and a John Garland who also live on the Island). Jane also gains self-possession and, upon her return to Toronto, is much less affected by her sour, disapproving grandmother.
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