Francis William Grey
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Francis William Grey (1860–1939) was a British-born Canadian writer and academic.[1] He was most noted for his 1899 novel The Curé of St. Philippe, which was republished by McClelland and Stewart's New Canadian Library series in 1970.[2]
Born and educated in England, Grey moved to Canada in adulthood and worked as a professor of English at the University of Ottawa,[3] and later for the National Archives of Canada.[1] Married to a French Canadian woman, he became knowledgeable about French Canadian culture; The Curé of St. Philippe has often been regarded by critics as a relatively weak novel in terms of storytelling, yet a strong and highly detailed portrait of French Canadian social and cultural organization in its era through its depiction of a small town in the process of building and launching its own new Roman Catholic church.[4] It was Grey's only novel, although he published academic non-fiction, poetry and theatrical plays.[1]