In 1927, Mazo de la Roche was an impoverished writer in Toronto when she won a $10,000 prize from the American magazine Atlantic Monthly for her novel Jalna. It became an immediate bestseller. She went on to publish sixteen novels in the popular series, about a Canadian family named Whiteoak living in a house called Jalna. She created unforgettable characters who come to life for her readers, but was secretive about her own life and tried to escape the public attention fame brought.