Patricia Blondal
Patricia Blondal was a Canadian author born on December 12, 1926, in Souris, Manitoba. She moved to Winnipeg with her family in 1936 and later attended United College of the University of Manitoba, where she befriended fellow writer Margaret Laurence. Initially focused on poetry, Blondal transitioned to fiction while working as a broadcaster for CBC-Radio. Throughout the 1950s, she struggled to publish her work, facing numerous rejections despite having written multiple stories and two novels. Tragically, her most notable work, *A Candle to Light the Sun*, was completed during a difficult period after she was diagnosed with cancer and was published posthumously in 1959. The novel garnered acclaim for its poignant depiction of small-town life in Canada, establishing Blondal’s legacy as a promising writer. Although a second novel was published later, it did not receive the same level of recognition. Despite the challenges she faced, Blondal's contributions to Canadian literature have earned her a respected place among her peers.
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Subject Terms
Patricia Blondal
Author
- Born: December 12, 1926
- Birthplace: Souris, Manitoba, Canada
- Died: November 4, 1959
Biography
Patricia Blondal was born to Nathaniel Jenkins and Nora Urilla Pearl Wark on December 12, 1926, in Souris, Manitoba. Her family to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1936, when her father, a railroad engineer, was transferred. She attended United College of the University of Manitoba from 1944 to 1947, where she was a classmate of Margaret Laurence. Both women were aspiring writers and sympathetic readers of each other’s early attempts. This was the poetry phase of Blondal’s writing life, which she later abandoned for fiction.
After graduation, Blondal became a broadcaster for CBC-Radio in Winnipeg and a member of the public relations staff. She married Harold Blondal, a physician, in 1946, and later moved with him to Chalk River, Ontario, and then, in the 1950’s, to Montreal. In 1951 she traveled to Europe and spent an extensive period of time in England. She gave birth to a daughter, Stephanie, in 1952, and later to a son, John. All this time Blondal was writing desperately to get published, with rejection slips her grim reward. By the mid- 1950’s she had thirteen stories and one play circulating among various North American publications and agents, but none had been accepted for publication. She had also written two novels which she presumably destroyed. Another book, a mystery novel, exists in manuscript.
Finally, the publishing house of McClelland and Stewart accepted a novel that Blondal reportedly wrote during a frenzied three-month period in the late 1950’s, after she learned she was dying of cancer. It is on that novel, A Candle to Light the Sun, that her fame rests. Blondal, however, never saw her book in print, for it was published several months after her death on November 4, 1959. A Candle to Light the Sun was acclaimed as a haunting and lyrical look at small town Canadian life in the 1950’s, written by an author showing much promise for a brilliant career. Unfortunately, Blondal’s career was cut short at its start.
A second novel that had actually been written before A Candle to Light the Sun was subsequently published but was received as considerably inferior to Blondal’s first success. The reissue of A Candle to Light the Sun in 1976 gave the book more critical acclaim, but failed to revive readers’ interest. However, the quality of the book has earned Blondal a deserved place of honor among the ranks of Canadian writers.