Jean McIlwraith

Jean McIlwraith was a Canadian author and publishing professional whose fiction often drew on historical settings. The Span O’ Life, written with William McLennan and issued in 1899, carries the subtitle A Tale of Louisbourg and Quebec. Its action moves through Scotland, London, France, Louisbourg, and Quebec, placing a romance within conflicts surrounding New France. The collaboration combined McLennan's interest in historical research with McIlwraith's work in fiction. She also wrote The Making of Mary as Jean Forsyth, along with A Diana of Quebec, Kinsmen at War, short stories, and the comic opera Ptarmigan with John Aldous. McIlwraith later entered New York publishing and became head reader at Doubleday, Page and Company before returning to Canada in 1919. Authorship, collaboration, editorial judgment, and Canadian history met repeatedly across her career, whether she was shaping her own narratives or evaluating the work of other writers for a major publishing house.