author
Mazo De la Roche
1879–1961
Best known for the beloved Jalna novels, this Canadian author turned family tensions, rural life, and a vivid fictional world into international literary success. Her stories of the Whiteoak family made her one of the most widely read writers of her era.
3 Audiobooks
Atlantic Narratives: Modern Short Stories; Second Series
by Mary Antin, Elizabeth Ashe, Kathleen Carman, Cornelia A. P. (Cornelia Atwood Pratt) Comer, Mazo De la Roche, Annie Hamilton Donnell, James Edmund Dunning, Rebecca Hooper Eastman, William Addleman Ganoe, Lucy Huffaker, Joseph Husband, S. H. Kemper, Christina Krysto, Ellen Mackubin, Edith Ronald Mirrielees, Margaret Prescott Montague, Edward Morlae, Meredith Nicholson, Kathleen Thompson Norris, Laura Spencer Portor, Lucy Pratt, Elsie Singmaster, Charles Haskins Townsend, Edith Wyatt
Explorers of the Dawn
by Mazo De la Roche
Possession
by Mazo De la Roche
About the author
Mazo de la Roche (1879–1961) was a Canadian novelist, born Maisie Louise Roche in Newmarket, Ontario. Because of her father’s work and her mother’s health, her family moved frequently during her childhood. A devoted reader, she began writing early and created an imaginary world called “The Play,” which helped inspire the fictional families and rural settings that later shaped her work.
Her breakthrough came with Jalna, which won the Atlantic Monthly prize in 1927. The novel introduced the Whiteoak family and became the first of a bestselling series that eventually included sixteen more books. The Jalna novels brought her international fame and were especially admired for their memorable characters and intricate family relationships.
By the time of her death in 1961, the Jalna series had sold about 11 million copies. Her work remains closely associated with Canadian literary history and with the enduring appeal of multigenerational family sagas.