After graduating from the Sarnia Collegiate Institute & Technical School, Engel obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Language Studies at McMaster University in 1955 and completed a Master of Arts in Canadian Literature at McGill University in 1957. Her M.A. supervisor while at McGill was author Hugh MacLennan, whom she corresponded with until her death. In 1960 Engel was awarded a Rotary Foundation Scholarship and spent a year studying French Literature at the Université d'Aix-Marseille in Aix-en Provence, France. Instead of returning to Canada the following year, she worked in England as a translator and began working on the unpublished manuscript "Women Travelling Alone".