"Anne of Green Gables" was her first book and was less formulaic than most of her earlier stories. She found inspiration for the story in an old newspaper clipping she had run across that told of a couple that had been mistakenly sent an orphan girl instead of a boy but decided to keep her.

Her inspiration for Anne's appearance was a photo of an actress named Evelyn Nesbitt that Montgomery clipped from an American magazine and hung on the wall by her writing desk.

Montgomery had not intended to write more books about Anne, but the book became an instant hit, and her publisher encouraged her to do sequels.

In 1911, she married a Presbyterian minister named Ewan Macdonald, and the couple moved to Ontario and eventually on to Toronto. When she died in 1942, she had written 20 novels, more than 500 short stories, an autobiography and a book of poetry.

She was buried on Prince Edward Island in the Cavendish cemetery. That hometown has since become a pilgrimage site for Anne's fans from around the world.

"Cavendish is, to a large extent, Avonlea," Montgomery wrote in 1911. "Green Gables was drawn from David Macneill's house, though not so much the house itself as the situation and scenery, and the truth of my description of it is attested by the fact that everyone has recognized it."

Montgomery's home is no longer standing, but the restored Macneill farmhouse, now known as Green Gables, has become part of a national park and draws thousands of visitors each year.

That alone is testament to Anne's power to move the human spirit. "When the book was first launched, it was promoted as a book that drives away the blues," said Gammell. "It is uplifting, it does make you feel good."

Sullivan has been working with a foundation that is building schools in Africa. "We are supplying Anne materials for the project, not only to help the kids learn English, but because she teaches them to use their imaginations. She teaches them that all things are possible. Anne is still a cultural emissary."

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