For the week of June 17, 2024.
On June 23, 1927, the Toronto Daily Star reported that there would likely be a sequel to Jalna: A Novel. The first two instalments of Mazo de la Roche’s novel had just been published in The Atlantic Monthly. The manuscript won her critical acclaim and a $10,000 prize from the publishers, as well as the promise of publication in book form later that year. Although de la Roche went on to publish many more novels, short stories, plays, and an autobiography, she is perhaps best known for her sixteen Jalna novels.
De la Roche was born to Alberta and William Roche in Newmarket, Ontario, in 1879. In 1900, she moved with her family to Toronto, where she studied to become an illustrator at the Ontario College of Art. She began writing short stories during her college years. In 1902, she published her first short story. It was a romance, which appeared in Munsey’s Magazine.
De la Roche continued to write for American magazines in the following years, while publishing her first books. In 1922, she released a collection of children’s short stories. Her first novel for an older audience, Possession, followed in 1923. An early example of regional realism, its characters and settings were inspired by real life.
De la Roche spent the summer of 1925 writing the first Jalna novel at her Trail Cottage, near Clarkson in Southern Ontario. She romanticized British Canadian society, architecture, and landscapes in her nostalgic depiction of the fictional Whiteoak family and their manor house of Jalna. She drew inspiration, in part, from the history of her own family and that of her cousin and close friend, Caroline Clement.
With help from Clement, de la Roche continued the saga in Whiteoaks of Jalna (1929), Finch’s Fortune (1932), The Master of Jalna (1933), Young Renny (1935), Whiteoak Harvest (1936), Whiteoak Heritage (1940), Wakefield’s Course (1941), The Building of Jalna (1944), Return to Jalna (1946), Mary Wakefield (1949), Renny’s Daughter (1951), Whiteoak Brothers (1953), Variable Winds at Jalna (1954), Centenary at Jalna (1958), and Morning at Jalna (1960).
Over the years, there were several adaptations of the Jalna novels for the stage and the small screen, including a television production of The Whiteoaks of Jalna for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1972. By the time Mazo de la Roche died in 1961, about 11 million copies of the Jalna series had been sold.
De la Roche was born to Alberta and William Roche in Newmarket, Ontario, in 1879. In 1900, she moved with her family to Toronto, where she studied to become an illustrator at the Ontario College of Art. She began writing short stories during her college years. In 1902, she published her first short story. It was a romance, which appeared in Munsey’s Magazine.
De la Roche continued to write for American magazines in the following years, while publishing her first books. In 1922, she released a collection of children’s short stories. Her first novel for an older audience, Possession, followed in 1923. An early example of regional realism, its characters and settings were inspired by real life.
De la Roche spent the summer of 1925 writing the first Jalna novel at her Trail Cottage, near Clarkson in Southern Ontario. She romanticized British Canadian society, architecture, and landscapes in her nostalgic depiction of the fictional Whiteoak family and their manor house of Jalna. She drew inspiration, in part, from the history of her own family and that of her cousin and close friend, Caroline Clement.
With help from Clement, de la Roche continued the saga in Whiteoaks of Jalna (1929), Finch’s Fortune (1932), The Master of Jalna (1933), Young Renny (1935), Whiteoak Harvest (1936), Whiteoak Heritage (1940), Wakefield’s Course (1941), The Building of Jalna (1944), Return to Jalna (1946), Mary Wakefield (1949), Renny’s Daughter (1951), Whiteoak Brothers (1953), Variable Winds at Jalna (1954), Centenary at Jalna (1958), and Morning at Jalna (1960).
Over the years, there were several adaptations of the Jalna novels for the stage and the small screen, including a television production of The Whiteoaks of Jalna for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1972. By the time Mazo de la Roche died in 1961, about 11 million copies of the Jalna series had been sold.
