Born in England as Ethel Mary Granger, she was raised in Collingwood, Ontario.[3] After completing high school, she spent several years teaching in a small two-room elementary school near Collingwood, and writing for the local newspaper, to save money to attend the University of Toronto.[3] She graduated from the university's Victoria College in 1915 with a degree in modern languages.[3] After World War I, she married academic Harold Bennett, who would later go on to become president of Victoria College[2] and Laurentian University.[3]
Bennett taught languages, including French and German, at various institutions including the University of Toronto and the Ontario Ladies' College.[1] She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1931.[1]
She published three historical fiction novels: Land for Their Inheritance (1955), A Straw in the Wind (1958) and Short of the Glory (1960).[3] All three novels dealt with the settlement and development of New France.[3]
Later in life, she took a doctorate in sacred literature from Victoria College.[3]
She died on April 19, 1988, in Toronto, Ontario, at age 96 according to The Globe and Mail[3] or 97 according to the Toronto Star.[1]
