The Jalna Series - Mazo de la Roche

     Mazo de la Roche was a Canadian writer who wrote a series of novels set at Jalna, the home of the Whiteoak family in Canada.  In all there are 16 novels.  The first novel, Jalna, was submitted for a contest in American Monthly magazine and won the $10,000 prize.  It was published in 1927, when she was 40, and became a bestseller.  It was originally intended to stand alone but because of its popularity she then penned prequels and sequels.  The series tells the story of one hundred years of the Whiteoak family covering from 1854 to 1954.  Today her work is admired for its strong, optimistic characters and sense of place.
     I read a number of the Jalna novels as a teenager but never completed the series.  I have decided to revisit them and read through the whole saga.  They are not great works of fiction but they are wonderful light reading.  I am currently reading the (chronologically) first novel, The Building of Jalna.

     The story starts in the 1850s when a British soldier, Philip Whiteoak and his wife Adeline, fiery and Irish, meet and marry in India where he is stationed at Jalna.  Shortly after, Philip inherits a house in Quebec from an uncle.  They decide to head for Canada with a baby, her ayah, a coachman, a goat, and a parrot named Bonaparte in tow.  Upon arriving and spending a short time in Quebec, they decide to sell the house and buy land in Ontario to build a family home.  They give it the Indian name Jalna after the place that they met and married.  This first novel tells of their trials and tribulations as they establish themselves on their land.
     Adeline is definitely the main character in this first novel.  She is willful, strong and devoted to Philip.  She is a beautiful redhead with a temper to match.  Her mothering skills are somewhat lax - she leaves the care of her children to others - but she makes no claims to the contrary.  Philip, an even tempered Englishman, while completely enthralled with his stormy wife, often finds her spirited behavior unsettling.  Although she's in the forefront, the novel is peopled with many other delightful characters.
     During the 16 novel series, Adeline becomes a 100 year old matriarch, who sees generations come and go.  Her children grow up and have children and grandchildren of their own, weaving a history of loves, losses, and dubious relationships.  Through it all, Adeline and the parrot, nicknamed "Boney", rule over them all.
     Here is a list of the novels in chronological order for anyone who might want to enter the world of Jalna:  The Building of Jalna, Morning at Jalna, Mary Wakefield, Young Renny, Whiteoak Heritage, Whiteoak Brothers, Jalna, Whiteoaks of Jalna, Finch's Fortune, The Master of Jalna, Whiteoak Harvest, Wakefield's Course, Return to Jalna, Renny's Daughter, Variable Winds at Jalna, Centenary at Jalna.

~ Frances