Early life 1928 De la Roche was born in
Newmarket, Ontario, north of Toronto, on January 15, 1879. She was the only child of William Roche, a salesman, and Alberta (Lundy) Roche, who was a great-great-niece of
David Willson, founder of
the Children of Peace, through the latter's elder half-brother Hugh L. Willson. On her father's side of the family, her uncle Francis signed himself as "Francis J. de la Roche", claiming a descendancy from Sir Richard de la Roche (1199–1283) of
Strongbow's army; Mazo eventually adopted the "de la Roche" surname, claiming that it was a nod to French heritage. The Roche family moved frequently throughout Southern Ontario during her childhood because of her mother's ill health and her father's work as a travelling salesman. She was known locally as "Maisie Roach", Her novel
Delight was based on her time there, A few years later in 1911, by now in her early thirties, de la Roche moved with Caroline and the Roches to Sovereign House in
Bronte, Ontario, to try life as farm owners. By now, de la Roche had resumed writing and was placing stories in American magazines on an occasional basis. William Roche, Mazo's father, died in 1915 of cirrhosis of the liver brought on by alcoholism. De la Roche, her mother Alberta and Caroline moved back to Toronto. De la Roche continued to write, but at this juncture Caroline Clement was the main breadwinner of the household, working as a civil service clerk. (She eventually rose to become the province of Ontario's chief statistician.) During the summers, Clement lived in a Toronto boarding house while de la Roche and her mother stayed in a cottage near
Lake Simcoe, several hours north of the city. Alberta Roche died in 1920. After this, de la Roche's writing career began in earnest, and Clement and de la Roche were never again separated for any significant length of time. During most of the 1920s, they split their time between Toronto and a cottage they had built in
Clarkson, Ontario. Her first published book,
Explorers of the Dawn, appeared in 1922, and was a
fix-up of some previously published sketches, vignettes and stories rewritten to work within an overarching narrative framework. Her first two proper novels,
Possession (
1923) and
Delight (
1926), were
romantic novels which were mild successes, but nevertheless earned her little in income or recognition. De la Roche also wrote plays and short stories through this period. Her third novel,
Jalna, was submitted to the American magazine
Atlantic Monthly, where it won a $10,000 award. The award, and the novel's publication in
1927, brought de la Roche fame and fortune at the age of 48.
Jalna series Jalna was an immediate sensation, with the public demanding sequels and prequels for the rest of de la Roche's life. Though she continued to write other works, the series known as the
Jalna series or the
Whiteoak Chronicles dominated the rest of her career. The series tells the story of one hundred years of the Whiteoak family from 1854 to 1954. The sixteen novels do not form a sequence, however, and each can be read as an independent story. There are similarities and differences in the experiences of the Whiteoak family and that of de la Roche. While the lives and successes of the Whiteoaks rise and fall, there remained for them the steadiness of the family manor, known as Jalna. de la Roche's family endured the illness of her mother, the perpetual job searches of her father, and the adoption of her orphaned cousin while being moved 17 times. Several critics believe that Finch Whiteoak who majors in ''Finch's Fortune'' (
1932) is a reflection of de la Roche herself. He was a somewhat tortured concert pianist with overtones of gayness. The names of many of the characters were taken from gravestones in a Newmarket, Ontario cemetery.
Bestselling author The sudden bout of fame was not an immediate blessing for de la Roche, as the stress of the attendant publicity caused her to experience another breakdown in early 1928. She eventually recovered, and began writing a sequel to
Jalna, which was published in 1929. The income from
Jalna and its sequels allowed de la Roche to become the main breadwinner of the household, after years of having been supported by Clement. The two made an extended trip to Europe beginning in 1929, living first in Italy, then in the United Kingdom. In 1931 they adopted the two orphaned children of friends of theirs. This was extremely unusual for the time, as adoptions by single women were technically not allowed in the UK during this era; the machinations by which de la Roche and Clement were able to do this are unknown. The family returned to Toronto for a time in 1934–1935, heading back to England again in 1936 before returning to Toronto for good in 1939. She purchased a home at 3590 Bayview Avenue the same year, and eventually added two wings to what became a 17-room mansion. The film "lend(s) credence to the theory that its subject was a closeted lesbian", although several people in the film who knew de la Roche and Clement, including their adopted daughter Esmée, state on-camera that they believe the relationship between the two was close but ultimately platonic.
Death and legacy De la Roche died on July 12, 1961. (
Benares and
Jalna are in fact both names of Indian cities.) It is now maintained by the Museums of Mississauga. A nearby park is named
Whiteoaks in honour of the series, as is a nearby elementary school. Streets in the area also bear names such as "Mazo Crescent," "Jalna Avenue," "Roche Court," and "Whiteoaks Avenue." Her house at 3590 Bayview Avenue in Toronto, Ontario was bought by The Zoroastrian Society of Ontario in 1978 and continues to serve as the society's community centre (as of February 2021). It is listed as a City of Toronto Heritage Property. In 1990, a French-immersion public school in de la Roche's birthplace of Newmarket, Ontario was named in her honour. Responding to an enquiry on the pronunciation of her name, her secretary told
The Literary Digest: "Her Christian name is pronounced ''may'zo
, and Roche is pronounced rosh
, to rhyme with Foch''." ==Works==