Book description
First published in 1960, in
Morning at Jalna
it is 1863 and the American Civil War is raging south of the border.
Still in its early years, the Jalna estate seems far away from the
despair and destruction. Philip, who will grow up to become the master
of Jalna, has just come into the world, while Augusta, Nicholas, and
Ernest are children. Life at Jalna is as peaceful as usual until the
Sinclairs come to visit. They arrive with the polished manners and soft
accents of Old Carolina and quickly appeal to Adelines sense of
hospitality. However, as the burden these distant cousins bring grows,
the Whiteoaks begin to suspect that the Sinclairs have a deep and
dangerous secret. This is book 2 of 16 in The Whiteoak Chronicles
. It is followed by Mary Wakefield.
Roche's use of metaphor would be helpful to students to understand
how language and environment can be used to mirror both characters'
lives and story developments. Mazo de la Roche, in 1927, was an
impoverished writer in Toronto when she won a ,000 prize from The
Atlantic Monthly for her novel Jalna
. The book became an immediate bestseller and was eventually adapted for
stage, screen, and television.
