First published in 1951, inRennys Daughter, Adeline Whiteoak is voyaging overseas. It is now 1948, and she travels with her Uncle Finch and cousin Maurice to Ireland and then London. On the ship she meets a charming Irishman and falls in love. However, when scandal breaks, she embodies her namesake and refuses to give him up. Meanwhile, back home, Jalnas peace and beauty is threatened by a neighbours speculative designs. This is book 14 of 16 inThe Whiteoak Chronicles. It is followed by Variable Winds at Jalna.

Mazo de la Roche, in 1927, was an impoverished writer in Toronto when she won a $10,000 prize fromThe Atlantic Monthly for her novelJalna. The book became an immediate bestseller and was eventually adapted for stage, screen, and television.