The Mysterious
Mazo de la Roche: The Secretive, Best-selling Writer of the ‘Jalna’ Novels
For many decades Mazo de la Roche (1879-1961) was one of Canada’s best-known and best-selling writers. From 1927 to 1954, she wrote sixteen novels about the fictional, multi-generational Whiteoaks family, and their ancestral home, ‘Jalna.’ The Jalna novels sold in the millions world-wide, were translated into almost 100 languages, and made into a Hollywood film, long-running plays, and several television series.
Jalna novels by Mazo de la Roche
Mazo de la Roche near Trail Cottage, Mid-1920s
Credit: Museums of Mississauga
Although she’s not well known by younger generations, many of us grew up loving her books, which were once considered rather ‘racy’. Mazo de la Roche is an intriguing and mysterious character in Canadian literary history, someone who once told a reporter that her only hobby was “privacy”. And much of what she shared publicly about herself had only a tenuous connection to the truth.
In the early 1920s, Mazo built a rustic summer home, “Trail Cottage” in the woods a short distance from Benares Historic House in what is now Mississauga. She and her lifetime companion Caroline Clement became good friends with the Harris family of Benares, and it was at Trail Cottage that Mazo wrote the first book in the Jalna series. There are some undeniable links between the fictional world that Mazo created and the Harris family and Benares.
As the founding curator of Benares Historic House in Mississauga, Annemarie Hagan has a lasting enthusiasm for Mazo de la Roche. Whether you’ve read all of Mazo’s books, or have never even heard of her before, you will enjoy learning about this important Canadian writer.
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I love stories about the past—I always have. I’m excited to share these amazing and unexpected stories with you.