Gabrielle Roy's Own Story Recalled by Sister Here

By TONY DICKASON

"What she wanted she went after."

So a sister describes Gabrielle Roy, St. Boniface born author of the successful novel Bonheur d'occasion which has now been translated into English and appears to be headed for the best-seller lists under the title The Tin Flute.

The comely auburn haired author, slender without being frail, had always seemed to react beyond herself her friends say, showing a restless personality in search of accomplishment.

She showed this restlessness as a child, says the sister, Mrs. J.A. Painchaud, who lives on River Road, St. Vital. Gabrielle, too, was a girl of great pride, she says, but this characteristic disappeared in later years--whether as the result of buffeting taken as one of a family of eight children or her sudden realization that recognition comes with doing, not wishing.

While still a pupil at St. Joseph's Academy in St. Boniface at the age of 16 years, Mrs. Painchaud recalls, Gabrielle sent manuscripts to publishing houses, but for a time all were regularly rejected. When a story submitted to a small publication "clicked," fulfilling her fondest hopes, she was definitely established in her own mind as a writer. Years later this was proven to the satisfaction of others.

Bonheur d'occasion, title of which is impossible to translate literally, means chance happiness, or happiness achieved by accident.

First published in Canada in 1945 the two-volume novel with its setting in the sombre St. Henri district of Montreal where live about 47,000 persons, mostly industrial workers in the tobacco factories, cotton mills and railway yards, has created by far the greatest stir in recent times in the field of French Canadian letters.

Termed by critics as "the most authentic study to date of the Montreal working class," the book was granted an award of the French Academy in 1946, has gained considerable praise in Canada itself, and was recently chosen by the Literary Guild of America as one of its spring selections.

And for The Tin Flute, recognition is piling on recognition. Universal Pictures of Hollywood have purchased film rights for $75,000. Word of this was received this week by Mrs. Painchaud in a wire from Miss Roy.

The book, started two years before publication in Canada was dedicated to her mother, Melina Roy, who died before she saw her daughter achieve success.

Miss Roy went to Europe two years before war broke out and in London studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama but gave it up for free-lance writing. Back in Canada in 1939 she did French radio scripts, wrote a series on Canadian ethnical groups, another on the Alaska highway as well as a survey of Quebec.

She was well-known in Winnipeg theatrical circles and had twice had the distinction of having played in the Dominion drama festivals in Ottawa. She taught in Provencher school in the '30's.

She comes from a family with artistic leanings. All the family play the piano and write for their own satisfaction. A sister, Adel, teaching in Bonnyville, Alta., has a book she hopes to bring out soon.

Father of the family, who died 15 years ago, was colonization officer with the Dominion government, helping in the job of opening up western Canada to immigrants newly arrived from Europe. A sister, Clemence, is at present living in St. Boniface.

Source: Winnipeg Tribune, March 1, 1947.

Courtesy of John Sullivan.