First published in 1953, inThe Whiteoak Brothers, the Jalna household is electric with secrecy and excited expectation. It is now 1923, and while young love blossoms between Pheasant and Piers, Aunt Augusta's friend, Dilly Warkworth, arrives at Jalna and tries to snare the heart of Renny. Eden, meets a persuasive mining broker whose new venture promises miracles. One by one, Eden persuades the other Whiteoaks to part with their savings - even old Adeline. This is book 6 of 16 inThe Whiteoak Chronicles. It is followed by Jalna.
Mazo de la Roche, in 1927, was an impoverished writer in Toronto when she won a $10,000 prize fromThe Atlantic Monthly for her novelJalna. The book became an immediate bestseller and was eventually adapted for stage, screen, and television.