Born on a homestead farm in rural Saskatchewan, Sinclair Ross went on to publish four novels and several classic short stories about Canadian prairie life. Working primarily as a banker, Ross published infrequently. For his banking career, Ross moved to several Canadian towns and cities before he retired in 1968. After living in Europe and publishing his third and fourth novels, Ross developed Parkinson's disease and spent the last period of his life in a Vancouver nursing home.
For his contributions to Canadian culture, Ross received the Order of Canada in 1992. After his death in 1996, a biography released the next year revealed details of Ross's closeted homosexuality. In 2018, Penguin Modern Classics released a new edition of The Lamp at Noon and Other Stories.
Sinclair Ross's As for Me and My House (first published in 1941 but achieved its fame after a re-issue in 1954) was first released to very little fanfare and received very few reviews (partly due to its availability and partly due to its subject...
First published in 1938, set amid the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression, "The Lamp at Noon" is a short story about how a young homesteader couple's competing visions of a better life lead to the death of their son.
The desolate, dust-filled...
Published in 1939, Sinclair Ross's "The Painted Door" is a short story about Ann, a farmer's wife who has an affair while her husband is away during a fierce winter storm. Feeling an increasing sense of isolation, alienation, and resentment, Ann...
