Long Ago and Far Away

My old friend Sunita was mentioned in my column today and I received a text from her that said, amongst other things, "Did we stalk cows? Were there cows in Jalan Pawang?"

Jalan Pawang was the street we lived on in Segamat, Johor and no, I don't think there were ever cows there. In fact, I didn't actually stalk cows with Sunita. My fellow cow-stalker was my mum and we did it in the field facing my great-grandmother's house in Kolam Air! It was just more convenient and space-saving to say that I terrorised cows with Sunita.

By the way, the cows were not actually terrorised. Even the little calves knew how to lower their heads and butt. And a little calf with a knobbly head is still quite a large, scary thing when you're a short, fat kid.

Sweet childhood memories

TOTS TO TEENS
By DAPHNE LEE

ONE morning, when I was 11 and living in a terraced house in a dusty, practically treeless housing estate in Batu Pahat, Johor, I received, in the post, a fat brown package, plastered with British stamps and blue airmail stickers. A brown paper package, whether tied up in string or not, is indeed one of my favourite things. A brown package from England at that point in time could mean only one thing: my eldest sister had sent me a present.

She sent me things from time to time and I have forgotten the contents in most of the parcels that came to Segamat and Batu Pahat from High Barnet, London. I do recall a very sticky box of Cadbury chocolate eggs though, and admit to licking the inside of the envelope it was wrapped in.

That morning in Batu Pahat, there was no chocolate, but I will never forget what I felt as the layers of brown wrapper came off to reveal five or six paperbacks tied together with string. Oh! The excitement, the mouth-watering pleasure that a book-lover feels when he receives a gift of books! I can’t remember the exact contents of the package. I think one of the books was The Canterville Ghost, but the title I do remember clearly, the one I read first and then re-read, and loved and guarded jealously, and still own, was Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery.

I’ve scanned the creased and frayed cover for this column and so you can see that it shows Kim Braden, as Anne, in the BBC-tv production of Anne of Avonlea. And the book is a Peacock, a now defunct imprint of Penguin Books. (The few Peacocks I own lead me to believe that it was a young adult imprint.)

Anyway, Anne of Avonlea was my introduction to Montgomery’s Anne series. Knowing my dear sister, I’m pretty sure she chose the book based on the fact that she too is an Anne, “with an ‘e’”.

I was instantly devoted to Anne Shirley. And I wished with all my heart that I lived in Prince Edward Island with its green woods and fields of wild flowers, it’s silvery streams and shimmering ponds. I had lived in Batu Pahat for six months by then and I hated the new housing estate that was still being noisily contructed around us. In Segamat, my best friend and I had climbed trees and picked fruit, dug dirt and scaled grassy knolls, stalked cows and dangled our feet in monsoon drains rushing with clear, clean, icy water straight from the town reservoir. Avonlea was just what I needed to get me through the early days of living in Batu Pahat. I was friendless; I hated the new school where every one studied as though their lives depended on it; I looked out of my bedroom window and saw row upon row of uncompleted double-storey houses. I couldn’t have said it at the time, but I think I felt that this new life was soulless.

Shortly after receiving Anne of Avonlea, I found a copy of Anne of Green Gables in a small Batu Pahat bookstore called The Student’s Service Centre. This book also had a picture of Kim Braden on its cover and it was a Puffin edition. I loved it even more than I did Anne of Avonlea. The red-haired orphan’s life was pathetic and sad, but she was so optimistic and hopeful. I admired her resourcefulness, her creativity and imagination, and her generosity. I could also relate to her desire to make friends, her delight in discovering kindred spirits, and her literary aspirations.

The first two Anne books remain my favourites in the series. I think the timing was right when I read them. I was just at that intensely romantic and acutely-aware stage in life, primed to receive and embrace Anne’s fullblown wonder at the world. When I read the other books in the series I was in my 30s and I admit I found them a bit excessive! I still enjoy Green Gables and Avonlea though but I believe it’s only because they are laced with memories of my childhood.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables and Penguin is celebrating with a number of projects, including a prequel to Anne’s story (Before Green Gables, by Budge Wilson), a 100th anniversary edition of Anne of Green Gables, featuring the original cover art of M.A. Claus and W.A.J. Claus; and Imagining Anne: The Scrapbooks of L.M. Montgomery, a publication that will bring to life Montgomery’s own thoughts and interests using selected pages from her own scrapbooks from the years 1893 to 1908.

Penguin Canada also held a contest inviting Anne fans to write letters about what the books mean to them. Unfortunately, it was only open to Canadians, which I think is odd considering how popular Anne is internationally (Green Gables has been translated into more than 30 languages).

If you haven’t experienced Anne for yourself yet, this is a good year to begin considering the various new editions that have been released. Look out for them at your favourite bookstore.

Comments

[Daphne]

Amelia, I didnt like the Canadian TV series, and I've always wanted to watch the BBC one. Still waiting ...

Elfiejane: Yes, and cows are rather more interesting than Britney, IMO ;-)

[elfiejane]

LOL stalking cows sound funny.

like stalking britney spears, but they're cows instead.

[Amelia]

I was introduced to Anne of Green Gables fairly late - when I was about 14 years old. My best friend and I read the books at the same time and whenever we'd finish one of the books in the series, we'd discuss it to death. I was enchanted by the TV movie which had Megan Follows play Anne and thought that she was so well suited to the role. I didn't really like the actor who played Gilbert Blythe though. Interestingly enough, my best friend (former kindred spirit) who is Jane with an E married a doctor and I tease her about real-life emulating books ;)

One of my dreams is to go to Prince Edward Island and I almost did when I was in Canada 5 years ago. Sadly, I didn't make it but that dream has not died! Thanks so much for reminding me about the pleasure of Anne of Green Gables!