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Two weeks ago my favorite author died of a heart attack. Her name was Gabrielle Roy and she was 74.

Mark Abley, a columnist for MacLean's referred to Roy as one of Canada's most distinguished, original and widely read writers. I agree that she was indeed a distinguished and original writer, but widely read I have some doubts.

Many friends have been recipients of Roy's award-winning novel, The Tin Flute (1947), but grin rather sheepishly when I question how they enjoyed it. They keep telling me it gets put aside for the latest Robert Ludlum or Judith Krantz novel.

That's fine, but hopefully some day it will be read and enjoyed. I object to people who push their reading tastes on others, so I apologize, but this week I am going to describe some of the writings of Gabrielle Roy. All are fiction and are available at the library.

Roy's most famous book, The Tin Flute (1947), won the Governor General's Award and the Prix Femina (France) and is the novel that perhaps most displays her concern for the poverty stricken. Set in Montreal before the outbreak of the Second World War, this is a compassionate sociological novel that studies a large family living in the slums of Montreal. The desperate poverty which the family faces is relieved somewhat by the outbreak of war and the possibility of military service. But, the reader cannot help but wonder if the relief is only temporary.

Streets of Riches (1957), also a winner of a Governor General's Award, is a narrative of a young girl's growing up in St. Boniface, Man. Christine, narrator of the book's 18 episodes, allows readers intimate glimpses of the relationship she has with family, particularly her parents, and life on the desolate prairie. Christine's progress from innocence to experience, from pastoral childhood to the pressures of urban existence, is told in a series of anecdotes that create a striking portrait of the interior life of a family.

Yet another winner of the Governor General's Award for fiction is Children of My Heart (1978). Set in the prairies in the 1930s, this is a compassionate story of impoverished immigrant children and the young school teacher who managed to treat each child as a special individual. Roy vividly brings these children to life for the reader, demonstrating the power of love in healing the wounds of misery and poverty.

In The Cashier (1956), Roy once again displays her seemingly unending compassion for' the down-trodden. At the centre of the novel is, Alexandre Chenevart, an overly proud teller in Branch J of the Savings Bank of the City and Island of Montreal. Trapped by what he considers a narrow environment and an oppressive urban society, Chenevart finds temporary escape at Lac Vert in the Laurentians. Upon his return to Montreal, he experiences more sharply than ever, the coldness of urban life. Eighteen months later, Chenevart is hospitalized, dying of cancer As he approaches death, Chenevart recognizes kindness in himself and in others.

The Road Past Altamout (1966) features a young girl, Christine - the Christine of St.Boniface whom we encountered in Street of Riches. The "sequel" features four sections, each one a complete story. In these four stories, the character of the child Christine, and her, French-Canadian milieu in the midst of Manitoba's vastness, are imprinted in the mind of the reader as we witness a young girl growing up.

Central to all of Gabrielle Roy's novels is a genuine concern for the individual and the individual's expoloration of nature. In Roy's writing, you will always find much love and encouragement. Her other novels include: The Hidden Mountain (1962), Windflower (1970), Where Nests the Water Hen (1951), Enchanted Summer (1976), and Garden in the Wind (1977).

Source: The Red Deer Advocate, August 6, 1983.

Courtesy of Paula L’Hirondelle.