Jalna Series

Young Renny takes us to1906. Renny, the young master of Jalna, is just eighteen. His twenty-year-old sister Meg is engaged to marry the young man next door, Maurice Vaughan Uncle Nick and Uncle Ernest, now in their fifties, have squandered their inheritances abroad on high living and reside again at Jalna. But the plot thickens further, when two outsiders join the mix: A gypsy woman, who seduces Renny, and a distant cousin from Ireland, who befriends Gran, moves into Jalna, and spies on the family…

An impulsive bride with an Irish temper, and her husband, Captain Whiteoak, select Lake Ontario as the site of their new home. It is 1863 and life at Jalna is peaceful. Philip, who will grow up to become the master of Jalna, has just come into the world, while Augusta, Nicholas, and Ernest are children. However, the Sinclairs come to visit and the Whiteoaks begin to suspect that the Sinclairs have a deep and dangerous secret.

First published in 1944, The Building of Jalna is one of sixteen books in the Jalna series written by Canada’s Mazo de la Roche. In The Building of Jalna, Adeline lay thinking about the journey. They were leaving London. When might she see it again? Perhaps never, with all the dangers of travel. What would happen to her and Philip in the New World? What strange distant place lay waiting for them? The vast and beautiful Canadian wilderness is the setting for this very special novel about Jalna. Unfolded here is the absorbing story of the beginning of Jalna — of Adeline and Philip Whiteoak, who come across half a world to meet the challenge and promise of a new land. For them both, Jalna not only becomes a symbol of their love, but a heritage for generations to come.

In Mary Wakefield, the third book in the Jalna series, a young English woman is hired by Ernest Whiteoak to be a governess to Philip’s motherless children. When Philip falls in love with her, his mother does all she can to prevent the marriage.

When Renny Whiteoak came home from the war he discovered many strange things at Jalna. Not least among them was his young brother Eden’s romantic affair with an attractive widow. Renny determined to put a stop to it. But when he met the infamous Mrs. Stroud, Renny found himself reluctantly entangled in her dangerous web.

The international bestselling story of the Whiteoaks, the unforgettable southern Ontario family who live in a red-brick house called Jalna.

In Finch’s Fortune, Finch Whiteoak celebrates his twenty-first birthday and comes into his inheritance from Grandmother Adeline. He generously takes his elderly uncles to England and lives for a time with his Aunt Augusta. While in England, Finch falls in and out of love with his cousin Sarah Court. He returns to Jalna, where the fortune left to him remains a bone of contention amongst other members of the Whiteoak family.

In Whiteoaks of Jalna, the saga of the Whiteoak family continues, with more rivalries, tangled relationships, and secret love affairs. The colourful matriarch Adeline Whiteoak dies at 101.

In The 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.

Whiteoak Harvest chronicles the 1930s saga of Renny Whiteoak and his wife, Alayne. Finch Whiteoak and wife, Sarah, return from their honeymoon to upset the Jalna household with Eden Whiteoak's love child. Meanwhile Wakefield Whiteoak is engaged to Pauline Lebraux but is tormented by religious doubts.

Renny Whiteoak is keen to sail for Ireland with his small daughter, Adeline, to buy a racehorse, but he's more eager to see his younger cousins, Finch and Wakefield, who have been living in London. On his arrival in England, Renny becomes entangled in his cousins’ affairs of the heart.

Renny attempts to carry on the family tradition after the death of his grandfather. He faces a financial crisis in the effort to keep the estate intact.

In Renny’s Daughter, Adeline Whiteoak is voyaging overseas. It is now 1948, and she travels with her Uncle Finch and cousin Maurice to Ireland and then London. On the ship she meets a charming Irishman and falls in love. However, when scandal breaks, she embodies her namesake and refuses to give him up. Meanwhile, back home, Jalna’s peace and beauty is threatened by a neighbour’s speculative designs.

In Return to Jalna, the Whiteoak family reunites after a year of separation. Piers, Renny, and Wakefield return in 1943 during the Second World War. Finch has been off on a concert tour, and Maurice has come home from Ireland. Fifteen-year-old Adeline returns from school and is now the stunning reflection of her namesake. It's a time of change and strain, but the family remains united against all others.

Maitland Fitzturgis and his sister, Sylvia Fleming, travel from Ireland for his official acceptance by the family as Adeline’s husband. Finch and Maurice also return, and Maurice brings with him his own problematic affairs of the heart. It quickly becomes one of the most fateful years that Jalna has known, and the story ends with more than one peal of the wedding bells.

Centenary at Jalna brings us to 1953 when the Whiteoaks gather to mark the 100th anniversary of their estate. It has now been a century since Captain Philip and Adeline Whiteoak arrived in Canada and built their legacy. While this should be a time of festivity for the clan, tension and discontent surround the forthcoming marriage of a new generation: Adeline and Philip, grandchildren of the originals. To make matters worse, young Dennis risks tragedy and Wakefield finds himself in a doomed relationship. As the celebrations loom closer, the question remains. Will the Whiteoaks be able to overcome their difficulties one last time?