Most Canadians who know and love the Anne of Green Gables books might not immediately recognize the author as one of the country's foremost war writers.

P.E.I. poet Jane Ledwell and York University professor Andrea McKenzie hope to change that with L.M. Montgomery and War, a book exploring Lucy Maud Montgomery's contributions and legacy as a war writer.

The collection of essays examines the way global conflicts — ranging from the North-West Resistance of 1885 to the Second World War — affected Montgomery's life and influenced her writing.

"I was really interested in how that experience in war in different stages of her life and different connections throughout those wars shaped her view of the world," Ledwell said in an interview with CBC PEI: Mainstreet.

Montgomery's fascination with war

McKenzie said war was a recurring and increasing presence in Montgomery's books.

"Throughout the 20s and 30s, the rest of her works generally contained some shadow of war," McKenzie said

The Blythes Are Quoted, Montgomery's final book, was devoted almost exclusively to the topic, she added.

"It's divided into a section on the First World War, and a section on the post-war period continuing into the Second World War in which Montgomery's attitudes towards war become more embittered and disillusioned about it."

Front lines and home front

Ledwell said what intrigued her most was how war affected Montgomery throughout her life.

L.M. Montgomery and War was published in May 2017. (McGill-Queen's University Press)

It was Montgomery's connection to the war, she believes, through the consumption of the news as well as letters from the front, allowed her to become an experienced war writer.

"Montgomery's view was much broader," said Ledwell. "As a war writer she brought not only a richness of perspective to the experience she imagined for Walter [in Rilla of Ingleside] at the front, she also brought the experience of women on the home front and all of those who stayed behind for one reason or another."

Field of women's war writing 'opened up'

The richness of that experience, Ledwell added, has never been counted as part of the canon of war writing in Canada.

"Montgomery was never considered a war writer and that really needed to be addressed," she said.

Despite the lack of recognition for Montgomery's war writing, McKenzie argues, the future for women war writers is bright.

"The field of women's war writing has opened up," said McKenzie. "Yet, although Montgomery really does belong amongst major Canadian war writers, she's not recognized as such."