When I was 10 years old, I found a book titled "Akage no An" ("Anne with Red Hair") in a library. It was a Japanese translation of "Anne of Green Gables" written by Canadian novelist Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) in 1908.
I became absorbed in reading the novel, fascinated by the heroine Anne Shirley, a cheerful and romantic orphan girl raised by Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, middle-aged siblings. The pastoral world of Prince Edward Island on the east coast of Canada, where the story is set, seemed to me like a wonderland.
So I was excited when a granddaughter of Montgomery, Kate Macdonald Butler, came to Japan in December, the 100th anniversary year of the internationally beloved classic publication.