32 Short Views of Mazo de la Roche

the long version

In this unconventional biography, Daniel Bratton intersperses his account of the chapters in Mazo de la Roche's life with photographs; old letters; passages from his own journal; conversations with the last living contacts with Mazo de la Roche and her cousin, Caroline Clement; and a delightful interview with Timothy Findley, who was a scriptwriter for the CBC's Whiteoaks of Jalna. Bratton's presentation of de la Roche's life through a multifaceted, postmodern narrative leads us into the extremely private, deliberately concealed world of one of Canada's most celebrated, yet deprecated, authors. "In frankly acknowledging - indeed exploiting - the limitations inherent in my undertaking," Bratton writes, "I hope that I have allowed something of the real Mazo de la Roche to emerge." Enter the doors of Jalna to discover not only the fascinating inner life of its creator, but also the possibilities for life-writing in an age of shifting literary boundaries.