Adèle Bibaud was born on 3 March 1854 to Jean-Gaspard Bibaud, an eminent physician, and Virginie Pelletier Bibaud. The Bibaud family was known for its literary accomplishments. Adèle Bibaud's uncle Maximilien Bibaud (1824-1887) was the author of literary studies, including Le Panthéon canadien, of which Bibaud and her sister Victoria prepared an edition in 1891. She was the granddaughter of Michel Bibaud (1782-1857), who was a poet and one of Quebec's first historians.

Adèle Bibaud was one of only two francophone women to publish a novel in the nineteenth century (the other being Laure Conan). Her two novels carry on some of the interests of her grandfather, embellishing historical situations with melodramatic adventures and romantic malentendus. Both treat events of major importance in Quebec's history. Published under the pseudonym Elèda Gonneville, Trois Ans en Canada (Three Years in Canada, 1887) concerns the...