Mrs. (Rosanna Eleanor) Leprohon

Born in Montreal on January 12, 1829, Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon was educated at the Congregation of Notre Dame. She began publishing as a teenager, first contributing poems to the Literary Garland and then writing serialized fiction.

After marrying Dr. Jean-Lucien Leprohon in 1851, she turned more strongly toward stories set in Quebec society. She became known as one of the earliest English-Canadian writers to portray French Canada in a way that attracted both anglophone and francophone readers. Her best-known novels include Antoinette de Mirecourt and Armand Durand.

Alongside novels, she wrote poetry, short fiction, and essays, often with a strong moral and domestic focus. She died in Montreal on September 20, 1879, but her work remains important for its early place in Canadian literature and for the window it offers onto 19th-century cultural life in Quebec.