Emily of New Moon

Emily of New Moon is a novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, first published in 1923. It is the opening book in the Emily Starr trilogy.

After the death of her beloved father, Emily Starr is sent to live with her mother's relatives at New Moon Farm on Prince Edward Island. Strict Aunt Elizabeth expects obedience, gentle Aunt Laura offers affection, and Cousin Jimmy recognizes the imagination that the rest of the Murray family does not always understand.

Emily is determined to become a writer. She records her experiences, defends her poems and stories, and treasures sudden moments of insight she calls “the flash.” Her ambition gives her a private source of strength while also bringing conflict with adults who consider writing impractical or improper.

Friendships with outspoken Ilse Burnley, artistic Teddy Kent, and ambitious Perry Miller create a circle of young people whose talents challenge the expectations around them. School rivalries, family secrets, and encounters with loss gradually make New Moon feel like home.

More inward and sometimes darker than the Anne novels, Emily of New Moon is a coming-of-age story about grief, belonging, creative independence, and resilience. Montgomery treats the desire to write not as a charming hobby but as the central work through which Emily begins to understand herself.

This is book 1 in the Emily Starr trilogy.