Vintage series. This was my introduction to it.

This is supposedly #7, but it was the first she wrote. Not exciting enough for me to want to read more. ( )

This is a book in a series I have wanted to read for a long time and now I wish I had done so sooner. The characters are so real and engaging and the story so intimate and gripping that it easy to become caught up in the world of the Whiteoaks. Great writing - I am really looking forward to the next story. ( )

Jalna is the story of the Whiteoak family at the time Grandmother Adeline is set to celebrate her 100th birthday. The tale of Adeline's children and grandchildren is most interesting and I hope to find more books in the telling of the Jalna/Whiteoak story. ( )

Sometime within my life time, there was a cultural shift from reading books in a series in publication order to reading them in narrative chronology. The first series I remember noticing the shift was with the Chronicles of Narnia. Now it's The Whiteoak Chronicles by Mazo de la Roche. Perhaps here the lesson is to avoid series with the name "chronicles."

When there's a series that was published over years, possibly decades, I would prefer to read the books in the order in which they were published even if the narrative chronology is out of order. So this means I'm starting the Whiteoak Chronicles with Jalna.

Jalna is the manor home of the Whiteoaks, with grandmother Adeline as the matriarch. She is planning for her 100th birthday and she's not sure about the directions her grandchildren are taking. It's situated in the countryside just south of Ontario, and the Whiteoaks like their quiet life.

Except for the youngest generation; it's their unrest that drives the book. The chapters unfold as character sketches that set up events more thoroughly explored in in The Whiteoaks of Jalna. There's Eden, the poet, who wants to make it big in New York. There's Finch, the perpetually restless. There's Remy, the one who takes being a Whiteoak the most seriously. There's Wakefield, the baby of the family.

There are two marriages in in this book, one Adeline approves of and one that she doesn't. Her disapproval of it, as well as her expectation that even married couples live at Jalna, spells disaster, as one can expect.

It's a rather quiet book. There's a lot more bite to its sequel, The Whiteoaks of Jalna. ( )

Jalna is the first book that author Mazo De La Roche wrote in her series about the Whiteoaks, a Canadian family who live in Southern Ontario. Set in the years between the two great wars, this book introduces the family and follows the drama of two new brides that are brought home to Jalna.

Chronologically, Jalna would be the seventh in the series and although this book gives one a good feel of what the series is about, I do think it would be better to read the series in the chronological order. One of the most interesting characters was the matriarch of the family whom we see turn 100 in Jalna. I am looking forward to reading of her early years when she and her husband first came to Canada and built the house.

The series consists of some 16 books and covers the time period of 1853 to 1953. I am looking forward to reading about Canada during these years, and about this feisty family with their tensions, squabbles, drama and love which the author delivers with equal amounts of humor and pathos. Once one has sat around the dinner table with this family and their various pets, it would be hard not to want to continue on. ( )