Ethel Wilson

Who was Ethel Wilson?

Ethel Davis Wilson, OC was a Canadian writer of short stories and novels.

Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, she moved to England in 1890 following the death of her mother. In 1898, after the death of her father, she was taken to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received her teacher's certificate in 1907, and for thirteen years taught in Vancouver elementary schools. In 1921 she married Wallace Wilson, President of the Canadian Medical Association and professor of medical ethics at the University of British Columbia.

In the 1930s Wilson published a few short stories and began a series of fictionalized family reminiscences which were later published as The Innocent Traveller. Her first published novel, Hetty Dorval, appeared in 1947, and was followed, seven years later by Swamp Angel, generally thought of as her most accomplished work. Her final book was Mrs Golightly and Other Stories.

In 1980 she was hospitalized and suffering from a series of small strokes. The day before she died, she was in physical distress from passing a kidney stone. A doctor injected her with medication to ease the pain.