Jalna

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The Whiteoak family, of English descent, resides at Jalna, a large estate in Ontario named after the Indian city where the founders, Captain Philip Whiteoak and his wife Adeline, first met. Much time has passed since that fateful encounter. Now, in the 1920s, the indomitable Adeline, a grandmother and widow, holds the family together as she eagerly anticipates celebrating her hundredth birthday with her children and grandchildren. Among them is young Wakefield, clever and mischievous, always scheming to avoid studying and snatch slices of cake, and Renny, the charming head of the family who conceals a sensitive soul. Life at Jalna flows peacefully until two new daughters-in-law disrupt the balance: the young Pheasant, the illegitimate daughter of a neighbor, whose arrival is seen as an affront, and the delightful Alayne, a career-driven American whose grace enchants everyone, especially the men in the household. With light, elegant prose and a delightful ironic perspective, Mazo de la Roche tells the story of three generations set against the beauty of the Canadian landscape and the tranquility of unspoiled nature.