Introducing readers to the complex, driven, and sensitive woman from the small town of Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, who won the hearts and minds of readers everywhere with her first novel, Bonheur d'Occasion ("The Tin Flute"), this book draws upon considerable resources to explore the aspects of Roy's life that account for the scope of her writing. It also examines in detail the roots of some of the major themes that inform her works—from Canada's rich and endangered multicultural heritage, to the ambivalent roles of progress and politics. This illustrated biography highlights three pivotal phases in Gabrielle Roy's life: her early years growing up and then teaching in Manitoba; her two-year stay in France and England in the late 1930s; and her return from Europe to live in Quebec. It was in this last period that Roy honed her craft and then, as she traveled across the country, learned about the Canada she came to describe in ways that altered the course of literary history.

Linda Clemente's profile page

Bill Clemente's profile page

Linda Clemente teaches in the French department at Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin. Bill Clemente teaches in the English department at Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska.