Gabrielle Roy’s Followers (114)

Gabrielle Roy

Born

in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, Canada

March 22, 1909

Died

July 13, 1983

edit data

Gabrielle Roy was born in March 1909 in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, the youngest of eleven children. Her mother and father, then, were relatively old at the time of her birth -- 42 and 59 respectively. Like Christine's father in Rue Deschambault (Street of Riches), Léon Roy worked as a colonisation officer for the Department of Immigration, a position he held between 1897 and 1915. His politically motivated dismissal occurred six months before his retirement, thus leaving Roy with no pension to support his family. The family's financial predicament during Gabrielle's youth precluded any chance of her attending university, despite having earned stellar marks throughout high school which put her as one of the top students in the entire province Gabrielle Roy was born in March 1909 in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, the youngest of eleven children. Her mother and father, then, were relatively old at the time of her birth -- 42 and 59 respectively. Like Christine's father in Rue Deschambault (Street of Riches), Léon Roy worked as a colonisation officer for the Department of Immigration, a position he held between 1897 and 1915. His politically motivated dismissal occurred six months before his retirement, thus leaving Roy with no pension to support his family. The family's financial predicament during Gabrielle's youth precluded any chance of her attending university, despite having earned stellar marks throughout high school which put her as one of the top students in the entire province. In 1927, after graduating from grade twelve, she enrolled at the Winnipeg Normal Institute where she completed her teacher training.

After teaching in the rural communities of Marchand and Cardinal, where she taught for a year, Roy returned to Saint-Boniface. There she accepted a teaching job at the Académie Provencher boy's school, a position she held from 1930-37. During this period, Roy began actively pursuing her interest in acting and joined the Cercle Molière theatre troupe. Her experiences as an actor inspired her to leave her teaching position and travel to Europe to study drama. Spending between 1937 and 1939 in Britain and France, the fluently bilingual Roy studied acting for six months before concluding that she did not desire to pursue a career in the theatre. In the meantime, she had also begun to write articles about Canada for newspapers in Paris and pieces on Europe for newspapers in Manitoba and came to realize that writing could be her vocation.

Over the course of her lengthy and prolific career, Gabrielle Roy received many honours, including three Governor General's Awards (1947, 1957, 1978), the Prix Fémina (1947), the Companion of the Order of Canada (1967), the Medal of the Canada Council (1968), the Prix David (1971), and the Prix Molson (1978).

...more

Combine Editions
Gabrielle Roy’s books

Average rating: 3.75 · 9,752 ratings · 796 reviews · 55 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy, Philip Stratford (Afterword) 3.71 avg rating — 5,010 ratings — published 1945 — 66 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Children of My Heart 3.73 avg rating — 1,289 ratings — published 1977 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Road Past Altamont by Gabrielle Roy, Joyce Marshall (Translator) 3.87 avg rating — 559 ratings — published 1966 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La Détresse et l'Enchantement 4.34 avg rating — 462 ratings — published 1984 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rue Deschambault 3.86 avg rating — 465 ratings — published 1955 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Where Nests the Water Hen by Gabrielle Roy, Sandra Birdsell (Afterword) 3.67 avg rating — 466 ratings — published 1950 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Windflower by Gabrielle Roy, Joyce Marshall (Translator), Phyllis Webb (Afterword) 3.48 avg rating — 302 ratings — published 1970 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Un jardin au bout du monde 3.53 avg rating — 212 ratings — published 1975 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Alexandre Chenevert 3.54 avg rating — 195 ratings — published 1954 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La montagne secrète 3.87 avg rating — 173 ratings — published 1961 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Gabrielle Roy…

Quotes by Gabrielle Roy (?)

“The more the heart is nourished with happiness, the more it is insatiable.”
― Gabrielle Roy

1345 likes

“Nous connaîtrions-nous seulement un peu nous-mêmes, sans les arts?

Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?
”
― Gabrielle Roy

11 likes

“la pauvreté est comme un mal qu'on endort en soi et qui ne donne pas trop de douleur, à condition de ne pas trop bouger. On s’y habitue, on finit par ne plus y prendre garde tant qu’on reste avec elle tapie dans l’obscurité; mais qu'on s'avise de la sortir au grand jour, et on s'effraie, on la voit enfin, si sordide qu'on hésite à l'exposer au soleil.
(Ch. XIII)”
― Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute

tags: poverty

4 likes

See all Gabrielle Roy's quotes »

Polls

Which book should be our May group read? (Historical Fiction)

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

8 votes 29.6%

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

7 votes 25.9%

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

3 votes 11.1%

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

2 votes 7.4%

The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy

2 votes 7.4%

In a Dark Wood Wandering: A Novel of the Middle Ages by Hella S. Haasse

2 votes 7.4%

The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester

2 votes 7.4%

An Undisturbed Peace by Mary Glickman

1 vote 3.7%

27 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: End of the Year Summary	73	316	Dec 29, 2009 05:48PM
Oh Canada: Who's your favorite Canadian author?	84	478	Jun 10, 2014 08:27PM
The Seasonal Read...: 15.7 - Birth of a Nation	19	159	Jun 06, 2015 12:01AM
The Next Best Boo...: please recommend genius works by women authors	88	1084	Jun 18, 2015 09:59AM
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2015: Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE POSTS)	3424	694	Sep 01, 2015 07:40PM
Read Women: May Nominations - Historical Fiction	12	44	Mar 25, 2016 04:44PM
Play Book Tag: Announcing the April Tag: Share Your Reading Plans and Suggestions	151	86	Apr 20, 2016 10:14AM

More…

Gabrielle Roy’s Followers (114)

Gabrielle Roy

Combine EditionsGabrielle Roy’s books

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Gabrielle Roy’s books