Editing Jane Urquhart (section)

==Early life==
Urquhart was born June 21, 1949, in Little Longlac, a small mining town in northern Ontario.<ref name=":1" /> She is the daughter of a mining engineer, Walter Andrew Carter, and Marian Quinn. Quinn grew up on a farm with a large family of six brothers and one sister. After their marriage, the couple moved to Little Longlac for Carter's work.<ref name="canwwrfrom1950.org">{{cite web |title=Biography of Jane Urquhart |url=http://www.canwwrfrom1950.org/biographies/jane_urquhart.html |access-date=29 July 2018 |website=www.canwwrfrom1950.org |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170743/http://www.canwwrfrom1950.org/biographies/jane_urquhart.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was there that they had three children, Urquhart being the youngest and their only daughter.<ref name="collectionscanada.ca">"Jane Urquhart" in ''Canadian Writers'' {{cite web |title=Welcome to the CANADIAN WRITERS website / Bienvenue au site Web ÉCRIVAINS ET ÉCRIVAINES DU CANADA |url=http://www.collectionscanada.ca/ecrivains/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516074738/http://www.collectionscanada.ca/ecrivains/ |archive-date=2007-05-16 |access-date=2007-05-14}}</ref>

The family's heritage made a lasting impact on Urquhart's writing. Her mother's Irish ancestors were immigrants who arrived in Canada in the mid nineteenth century during the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]]. Both of Urquhart's parents had witnessed the trials of [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. With such a background, Urquhart's childhood was filled with the stories of Ireland and settlement in Canada.<ref name="canwwrfrom1950.org" /> "The women are the people who pass the stories down through the generations in any family," Urquhart says. "Occasionally, one of the men would tell a story. When they did, it was a very exciting event, and it was often war-related. But the women were constantly gossiping. I've always been a great believer that gossip is not an evil thing. I see it as an investigation of human nature."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booksincanada.com/|title=Books in Canada|website=www.booksincanada.com|access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref>