Roy, Gabrielle (1909-1983), was a French-Canadian novelist. Roy wrote with sympathy and understanding about the sufferings of ordinary, often underprivileged people. Her work has been praised for its psychological subtlety and vivid descriptions. Roy gained fame for her first novel, Bonheur d’occasion (1945). It was translated into English as The Tin Flute (1947). The novel describes the poverty-stricken lives of a working-class family in the slums of Montreal during the 1930’s and early 1940’s. Other novels include Street of Riches (1955), The Road Past Altamont (1966), and Garden in the Wind (1975).
Roy was born on March 22, 1909, in St.-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba. She taught school in rural Manitoba from 1928 to 1937, and the province served as the setting for much of her writing. She died on July 13, 1983.
