Re: Trying to identify a saga

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Glenn Harper) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>Hi all,
> 
>I'm a librarian trying to identify a historical fiction saga for a
>customer, so far with no luck. So, I'm seeking help here.
>
>The cutosmer cannot recall either the author or the titles, although
>she knows that the author was a woman.
>
>Here's what else we know:
>- she read the books many years ago in the large print format
>- the series was more than a triology
>- it followed the story of several generations of women in a family
>- the women were Anglo-American (it was set in America)
>- the story started around the 1700s and finished around WW2
>- the main theme of the books revolved around family life
>- they were small town folk
>
>That's all I have to go on and my reference books here aren't coming
>up with satisfactory results.
>Any help would be appreciated.
>Glenn Harper

For some reason, my mother's Jalna series by Mazo de la Roche comes to
mind. I never read them, but my mother was fond of them.

Building of Jalna
In the first book of the Jalna series, Adeline, an impulsive bride
with an Irish temper, and her husband, Captain Whiteoak, select Lake
Ontario as the site of their home. The building of the house, the
swimming and skating parties, and the jealousies and humor of the
family are described. 1944

Morning at Jalna
Now the mother of four children, Adeline finds her Canadian household
involved with a family of Southerners who are members of a secret
Confederate resistance movement in the U.S. Civil War. 1960

Mary Wakefield
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. 1949

Young Renny
Renny, the head of the Jalna household, is depicted as a boy whose
impatience with an English cousin creates some amusing incidents. 1935

Whiteoak Heritage
Fortunes of the Whiteoak family after World War I. Renny returns home
to find his one-time love still unforgiving and his brother still
involved with an older woman. 1940

Whiteoak Brothers
Matriarch Adeline has reached her ninety-eighth year, and her grandson
Renny is the head of the Jalna household. This volume deals with the
family's unfortunate investments in a fake gold mine. 1953

Jalna
The family home of the Whiteoaks now includes a formidable old lady
and assorted aunts, uncles, sisters, and brothers. 1927

Whiteoaks of Jalna
Finch, the awkward, misunderstood musical genius of the family, finds
growing up difficult. Events reach a climax when his eccentric old
grandmother dies and leaves her fortune to him. 1929

Finch's Fortune
The fortune left Finch is still a bone of contention in the Whiteoak
family. Renny is holding aloof, the rest are eagerly grasping at help.
On a visit to England, Finch is subjected to the bitterness of
hopeless love. 1931

The Master of Jalna
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. 1933

Whiteoak Harvest
Renny and Alayne Whiteoak reach a marital crisis with tragic
undertones. An old uncle returns to Jalna, and later young Wakefield,
after a stay at a monastery, comes home. 1936

Wakefield's Course
The continuing saga of the Whiteoak family from the spring of 1939 to
the fall of 1940. Focuses on Wakefield, a successful actor, and his
bittersweet love affair. 1941

Return to Jalna
This episode begins with World War II and shows the brothers coming
home from the war and settling down, soon with children of their own.
1946

Renny's Daughter
Renny's daughter travels to Ireland and becomes involved in a
frustrating romance. 1951

Variable Winds at Jalna
In this episode of the family saga, Renny's daughter, the young
Adeline, plans to marry her Irish lover, much to her father's
displeasure. Meg and Finch find new loves, and old Nicholas dies,
leaving various legacies. 1954

Centenary at Jalna
Traces the activities of the Whiteoak family in the mid-fifties, a
period climaxed by the one hundredth anniversary celebration of the
oldest of the family residences. An alienated brother, a neurotic
child, and a reluctant bride-to-be star in this episode. 1958

Compiled by Ellie Friedman
Revised by Joyce Y. Carter

Deborah Sharavi