Canadian regional romantic novelist, best known for Anne of Green Gables (1908), a sentimentalized but often charming story of a spirited, unconventional orphan girl who finds a home with an elderly couple. The book drew on the author's own girlhood experiences and on the rural life and traditions of Prince Edward Island. Earlier a journalist and schoolteacher, she achieved international success with both adults and children after the publication of Anne. Six sequels, carrying Anne from girlhood to motherhood, were less successful.