Whiteoaks of Jalna

First published in 1944, The Building of Jalna is one of sixteen books in the Jalna series written by Canada's Mazo de la Roche. In The Building of Jalna, Adeline, an impulsive bride with an Irish temper, and her husband, Captain Whiteoak, select Lake Ontario as the site of their new home. De la Roche chronicles their trials and tribulations during the building of the house, the swimming and skating parties, and the jealousies and humourous events...

First published in 1949, in Mary Wakefield, the third book in the Jalna series, a young English woman is hired by Ernest Whiteoak to be a governess to Philip's motherless children. When Philip falls in love with her, his mother does all she can to prevent the marriage. This is book 3 of 16 in The Whiteoak Chronicles. It is followed by Young Renny.

Published in 1940, Whiteoak Heritage chronicles the fortunes of the Whiteoak family after the Second World War. The drama continues at Jalna when Renny returns home to find his one-time love still unforgiving and his brother still involved with an older woman.

Perhaps the most classic novels of Mazo de la Roche's monumental family saga are these four, which were the first books written in the series, though they fall in the middle of her books' multi-generation narrative. These, including the original novel Jalna, were the books that first established the world of Jalna in the minds of readers and de la Roche herself, and set the stage for the twelve sequels and prequels that were to follow. Includes Whiteoak...

First published in 1932, in Finch's Fortune, Finch Whiteoak celebrates his twenty-first birthday and comes into his inheritance from Grandmother Adeline. He generously takes his elderly uncles to England and lives for a time with his Aunt Augusta. While in England, Finch falls in and out of love with his cousin Sarah Court. He returns to Jalna, where the fortune left to him remains a bone of contention amongst other members of the Whiteoak family....

First published in 1936, Whiteoak Harvest chronicles the 1930s saga of Renny Whiteoak and his wife, Alayne. Finch Whiteoak and wife, Sarah, return from their honeymoon to upset the Jalna household with Eden Whiteoak's love child. Meanwhile Wakefield Whiteoak is engaged to Pauline Lebraux but is tormented by religious doubts. This is book 11 of 16 in The Whiteoak Chronicles. It is followed by Wakefield's Course.

First published in 1946, in Return to Jalna, the Whiteoak family reunites after a year of separation. Piers, Renny, and Wakefield return in 1943 during the Second World War. Finch has been off on a concert tour, and Maurice has come home from Ireland. Fifteen-year-old Adeline returns from school and is now the stunning reflection of her namesake. It's a time of change and strain, but the family remains united against all others.

First published in 1954, in Variable Winds at Jalna, the immediate sequel to Rennys Daughter, Maitland Fitzturgis and his sister, Sylvia Fleming, travel from Ireland for his official acceptance by the family as Adelines husband. Finch and Maurice also return, and Maurice brings with him his own problematic affairs of the heart. It quickly becomes one of the most fateful years that Jalna has known, and the story ends with more than one peal of the...