Educated at Toronto University and the Toronto School of Art, de la Roche had been brought up on farms and this was later reflected in her writing. Already writing as a child, she published her first story, The Thief of St. Loo, in Munsey's Magazine in 1902. After her father's death her writing career became her main focus in life. Following a couple of insignificant novels, she published Jalna in 1927 to great public and critical acclaim. The novel was the first in a series known as the Whiteoak Chronicles which details a hundred years of the fictional Whiteoaks family. The series was a phenomenal success and by 1949 over two million copies had been sold. The film Jalna was released in 1935. The series has also been translated into numerous foreign editions. Her many works include Explorers of the Dawn (1922), Possession (1923), Delight (1926), Portrait of a Dog (1930), Lark Ascending (1932), Whiteoak Harvest (1936), Growth of a Man (1938), Whiteoak Heritage (1940), The Two Saplings (1942), Renny's Daughter (1951), A Boy in the House With Other Stories (1952), and Ringing the Changes: An Autobiography (1957). |
