Ricard thinks of Gabrielle's life in three parts: her childhood in Manitoba, her years in Europe, and then her career in Montreal. Roy was the daughter of Quebecois parents who had emigrated to Manitoba. Growing up French-Canadian in anglophone Manitoba meant that she was part of an ostracized minority. It was illegal to teach French in schools, so Gabrielle's teachers would clandestinely teach French subjects after hours. Her family, while not desperate, was certainly not affluent. The combination of poverty and exclusion gave Roy a feeling of being "destined for inferiority". So when she wasn't pursuing her thespian talents she worked as teacher, at once helping to support her family and preparing to escape to Europe.
Her time in Europe was a period of discovery and decisions that would change her future. She was exposed to British literature, especially Shakespeare. And it was during this time that she decided to write in French. Her stay in Europe ended with the onset of World War II, and Gabrielle went to Montreal. During the second World War Montreal experienced a economic and cultural boom. War industries provided ample employment, and after the fall of Paris, Quebec became the protector of French culture.
It was while living in Montreal that Gabrielle published her first novel, "Bonheur d'occasion", about a working class family in the slums of Montreal. It was an instant success and in 1947, just two years after its publication, Gabrielle received the Prix féminin in Paris. For the rest of her life she continued to write wonderful novels, oscillating between innocent stories about nature and grittier novels like "Bonheur d'occasion". She had for capturing in writing the human experience in all its complexity, at once painful and magnificent. By the time of her death in 1983 she had become one of Canada's greatest novelists.
"Bonheur d'occasion" can be found at the HBLL here.
