Born on February 5, 1933, Mowat (née Wheeler) was raised and educated in Toronto, Ontario.
[1][2] The couple divided their time between Ontario, and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
[3] Her second book Pomp and Circumstances (1989) arose from witnessing protocol behind the scenes at the Governor General's residence Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
[2] A 2005 memoir Travels with Farley, describes the couple's life in the Magdalen Islands, following the still-birth of their only child.
[3] She has also written a trilogy of young adult fiction: The Girl from Away (1992), The French Isles (1994) and Last Summer in Louisbourg (1998).