The Building of Jalna

A guilty pleasure. I like the novels of Mazo de la Roche (1879-1961). Her best-known books are the Jalna series, a long-running (16 books) generational saga about the Whiteoak family and their adventures in Canada from 1854-1954. The Building of Jalna is, in terms of internal chronology, the first of the series and the best place to start, though none of the books require knowledge of the others in order to be enjoyed. Loosely termed they are romance novels. The books are of a different era and some of the attitudes are very dated. But they're filled with adventure and they have a sweep to them that's exhilarating. The series was incredibly popular in its day and most of the books can be found in used bookstores, but chances are no one will have all of the titles at once, and some will be harder to find than others. Again, The Building of Jalna is chronologically the first, but you don't have to read them in order.

I read my first Jalna book when I graduated in 1969, because I purchased a few books with my gifts of money -- and when I found out it was a 16 volume series, I read all of them that wonderful 18th summer... AND I've been reading them ever since, one or two a year, the whole series twice at least in a row. What I like about the books is the characters are very real, with all of their faults and it isn't hard to have a few favorites immediately. I recommend the Jalna Series to anyone who likes a good story that lasts forever. Sometimes I feel like I really know those people...