Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon

Leprohon, Rosanna Eleanor

Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon, née Mullins, novelist, poet (b at Montréal 12 Jan 1829; d there 20 Sept 1879). Of Irish-Catholic descent and a convent-school education, Leprohon published her first poetry, at age 17, in the Literary Garland, followed by serialized novels of manners set in England, published annually from 1848 to 1851.

In June 1851 she married a French Canadian, Dr J.L. Leprohon; they had 13 children. Subsequently Leprohon's focus shifted to Québec society. "The Manor House of de Villerai" (serialized in The Family Herald 1859-60) is set in New France during the Seven Years' War; Antoinette de Mirecourt (1864) in Montréal just after that war; and Armand Durand (1868) in early 19th-century Lower Canada. Soon translated, these novels became part of both Canadian literatures; indeed Le Manoir de Villerai (tr 1861) precedes P.J. AUBERT DE GASPÉ's Les ANCIENS CANADIENS (1863) as the immediate literary descendant of Garneau's HISTOIRE DU CANADA, Leprohon's posthumous Poetical Works (1881) treat historical and religious subjects, nature and family life.