PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, Canada – By nature, fictional characters aren’t real, yet some loom larger than life. Consider Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter, James Bond, Lassie and the killer shark in Jaws.

For many people, no fictional figure holds deeper significance than the red-headed Anne Shirley, a much-loved, young heroine in Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel, Anne of Green Gables. A first-edition copy sold for a record US$37,500 at a recent Sotheby’s auction in New York. In Prince Edward Island, Montgomery’s home province and the story’s setting, Anne fuels a robust tourism industry.

Who better to ask about Anne’s clout than young singer-songwriter Meaghan Blanchard, one of P.E.I.’s best-known real-life red-heads? Four times, she took a summer job playing the role of Anne at Avonlea Village. “That’s a theme-village based on Anne of Green Gables and with interactive storytelling,” Meaghan said. “We’d do theatre throughout every day.

“For me, it was amazing to play Anne and see how enthralled people are with her. I loved the job so much, but finally ran out of energy because people had such a high demand for Anne. I’d play eight scenes of theatre and always run to get into photos with people. Constantly, children climbed all over me.

“You can make fun of tourism based on Anne of Green Gables, and people living on P.E.I. may tire of hearing about Anne. But she’s an important character who changes lives.

“People would come up to me and say how they’d had an awful time growing up, but the Anne of Green Gables story helped them. Then they’d hug me like I really was Anne. It was fascinating. Anne of Green Gables does a lot for its readers and audiences.”

Despite Meaghan’s substantial musical success, she still can’t match the make-believe redhead. “So far, people don’t chase me down to get my picture or pull at my hair like when I was Anne,” she said.

That’s just as well, if she’s going to have the time and energy to continue writing new songs and performing them.

As for the fictional Anne, she never did live, but her fame and positive impact do. Indeed, they’re immortal.


Even car license plates sometimes
celebrate the fictional Anne Shirley.

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