Uncle Ronald and Covered Bridge draw on Brian Doyle's childhood memories of Ottawa and the Gatineau Valley.
Doyle was born and grew up in an ethnically-diverse section of Ottawa, Ontario, spending summers with his family at a log cabin on the Gatineau River near Low, Quebec.
His upbringing was made difficult by a father who drank excessively and a mother worn out from caring for his mentally disabled older sister.
While working as a teacher, Doyle wrote a column for a local newspaper and published a short story in the literary magazine Fiddlehead.
[7] Doyle's first young-adult novel, Up to Low, was set in Quebec's Gatineau Hills, and based on his childhood experiences at his family's cabin.
[8][9] Angel Square is set in the Lower Town area of Ottawa, and portrays the futility of the racial tensions between the neighbourhood's children.
Pure Spring, Boy O'Boy and Easy Avenue were adapted for the stage by students at Glebe Collegiate, and Up to Low was performed as a play Featherston Public School.