Grove, Frederick Philip (1879-1948), was a Canadian novelist noted for his realistic descriptions of prairie life combined with romantic fatalism. In several prairie novels, Grove dealt with people’s struggle against nature and with the gap between generations and between the sexes. These books include Settlers of the Marsh (1925), Our Daily Bread (1928), The Yoke of Life (1930), and Fruits of the Earth (1933).
Grove is also known for two collections of nature sketches—Over Prairie Trails (1922) and The Turn of the Year (1923). His last novel, The Master of the Mill (1944), is a study of a capitalist dynasty in Ontario.
Grove was born on Feb. 2, 1879, in Randomno, Prussia, to German parents. His given and family name was Felix Paul Greve. He grew up in Germany and came to North America in 1909. He became a schoolteacher in Manitoba in 1912 and taught there until 1923. Grove’s fictionalized autobiography, In Search of Myself (1946), won the 1946 Governor General’s Award for nonfiction. Grove died on Aug. 19, 1948.
