Mazo de la Roche was one of Canada's most popular and prolific authors. Although she published about thirty-five books during her lifetime, she was best known as the author of the famous Jalna series: sixteen novels about four generations of the family of upper-class Englishman Captain Philip Whiteoak and his aristocratic Irish wife, Adeline Court. The Whiteoak family lives between 1854 and 1954 on a rural estate in Ontario, Canada. The first novel in the series,

Jalna

(1927), won an international novel competition and became a best seller. The sequels also sold extraordinarily well. The Jalna books inspired a Hollywood film,

Jalna

, screened in 1935. They also formed the basis of a play,

Whiteoaks

(1936), the first Canadian play mounted in the West End theatre district of London, England.

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Citation: Kirk, Heather Pearson. "Mazo De La Roche". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 June 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1183, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1183 Mazo De La Roche 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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