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Mazo de la Roche was born in Newmarket Ontario, in 1879. She was the only child of William Roche and Alberta (Lundy). In her childhood her parents adopted her orphan cousin Caroline Clement. Mazo later studied at the University of Toronto. From 1930 to 1940, she lived in Devon, England and was frequently a guest of the Royal Family.
She published
her first story in 1902, but it was not until her father died that she devoted
herself entirely to writing. Mazo wrote the books Possession (1923) and
Delight (1926). At the age of 48 she wrote her most successful novel,
called Jalna. It won her the Atlantic Monthly ten thousand dollar book
award. Eight years later, that is to say in 1935, the book was turned into a
film which critics later said was a good production but a bad adaptation.
The York Region District School Board named a French immersion school after
her and the school officially became Mazo de la Roche Public School. The town
of Newmarket has placed a plaque in her honour at Fairy Lake.
For further information, please consult “Mazo de la Roche, The Hidden Life” by Joan Givner (Oxford University Press, 1989).
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