Alice Boissonneau

Alice Irene Boissonneau, née Eedy (1918 - 2007) was a Canadian writer and social worker.Norman Snider, "The poetry of the pavements". Toronto Star, March 14, 1992. She was most noted for her 1976 novel Eileen McCullough, which was a shortlisted finalist for the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1977."Two writers to share award for first novels in Canada". Ottawa Citizen, March 29, 1977.

Background

Born in Walkerton, Ontario,Cherry Clayton, [https://www.booksincanada.ca/article_view.asp?id=1219 "Pressed Between the Pages of Balzac - Cherry Clayton speaks with Alice Boissonneau"]. Books in Canada, September 1999. and raised in St. Mary's, Ontario, she was the daughter of Lorne Eedy, a publisher of the St. Mary's Journal-Argus."Publisher In Love With City". Victoria Daily Times, July 12, 1928. Her older sister, Helen Elizabeth Eedy, was the wife of politician James Elisha Brown,"Weddings: Brown-Eedy". Toronto Star, July 29, 1940. and later remarried to Northrop Frye in 1988 after Brown's death.Rosemary Sexton, "Northrop Frye wedding celebrated by friends". The Globe and Mail, September 20, 1988.

She was educated at the University of Toronto's Victoria College, and began her career as a hospital social worker in Toronto,William French, "A woman works in Garners' world". The Globe and Mail, February 1, 1977. also serving on Toronto's municipal housing committee in the 1940s."Will Probe Housing". Toronto Star, June 4, 1943.

Career

After marrying forestry worker Arthur Boissonneau, she took up writing, with her short stories and poetry appearing in various Canadian literary magazines, and radio dramas broadcast by CBC Radio,"On the Air". Montreal Gazette, May 10, 1975. prior to the publication of Eileen McCullogh in 1976.Lloyd Bibby, "It hides a tender story". Waterloo Region Record, January 8, 1977. The novel's titular character was a young woman in Toronto in the World War II era who found herself a single mother after a brief affair with a soldier and was forced to take low-paying working class jobs to support herself and her child.Marjorie Wild, "Sensitive novel". Hamilton Spectator, December 11, 1976.

She published There Will Be Gardens, a memoir of her time in Toronto in the 1940s, in 1992,Eve Drobot, "Mining the sour, sad stillness that is Toronto". The Globe and Mail, April 4, 1992. and followed up with her second and final novel, A Sudden Brightness, in 1994.

In late life she lived in Guelph, Ontario, where she died in 2007."Boissonneau, Alice Irene". Guelph Mercury, December 15, 2007. Following her death, her neighbour Marlene Santin established a charitable program, Pets for Alice, in her memory to help cover the costs of pet adoption and care for senior citizens.Tony Saxon, [https://www.guelphmercury.com/news/fred-and-nipper-a-purrfect-pair/article_88747fa4-b9f4-5c88-ac06-d3366c0034b1.html "Fred and Nipper a purrfect pair"]. Guelph Mercury Tribune, November 29, 2015.