Ethel Wilson

ETHEL WILSON née Bryant (1888-1980), the daughter of English Methodist missionaries, was born in South Africa. Her mother died when she was two and her father took her back to England, where she spent seven very happy years. After his death in 1897 she went to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver; apart from four years at a Wesleyan boarding school in England, this was to be her home for the rest of her life. Ethel Wilson taught in local primary schools until her marriage to a prominent local doctor in 1921. She published some short stories for children in the 1920s and some for adults during the 1930s. Her first published novel was Hetty Dorval (1947), which she wrote in three weeks and was her bestselling book. Four more novels followed, including Swamp Angel (1954). Her last book, a collection of short stories, appeared in 1961, the year she was awarded the Canada Council Medal.