The British Columbia Review | Books and Culture of British Columbia

Paddling far afield

“After Andrew gestured to the foyer table where I placed my helmet, I shook his hand and he offered me a glass of water in his kitchen. I fumbled for my questions as I took the glass from him with thanks. At seventy, he still had the kind, calm, and wise visage I knew from his ‘About the Author’ photos. The lines on his face marked a man who had travelled the outdoors, exposed to the elements, and spent a lot of time in the sun.” Non-fiction editor Trevor Marc Hughes contributes a chapter to his motorcycling travelogue about meeting dedicated kayaker and writer, the late Andrew Scott, and their time talking about modes of travel that connect.

Exclusion on ethnic origin

“Catherine Clement’s new book, The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, and the commemorative exhibition that preceded it, takes an unflinching look at the inter-generational impact of the ‘…fanatical documentation [which] reached its apex with the passing of the federal 1923 Chinese Immigration Act.'” May Q. Wong reviews The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, by Catherine Clement (Oakville: Plumleaf Press, 2025) $59.95 / 9781069093516

Student activists, unite!

This accomplished trio of “chapter books emphasize the importance of kindness and community, introduce a variety of environmental issues, provide subtle but shrewd insights into politics and capitalism, and deliver road maps to empowering activism.” —Ginny Ratsoy reviews Book Uncle and Me, by Uma Krishnaswami (Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2016)$14.99 / 9781554988082, Birds on the Brain, by Uma Krishnaswami (Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2024) $16.99 / 9781773069449, and The Sunshine Project, by Uma Krishnaswami (illustrated by Julianna Swaney) (Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2025) $16.99 / 9781773067797

The Permanent Residence blues

The promise of comfort and security in a new home continues to elude the proverbially overworked and underpaid characters in a searing novel that highlights exploitation, corruption, and bad faith in Canada’s immigration system. —Ron Verzuh reviews Frosty Lanes, by Harpreet Sekha (translated by Akal Amrit Kaur and Inderpal Kaur) (Chhanna, India: Rethink Books, 2025) $x.xx / 9789348092922

The cultural history connection

“Eventually Maria mentioned that she had touched on some subject or other in a biography that she had written about Emily Carr some years ago. The proverbial light bulb went off in my head. ‘So you must be Maria Tippett?’ I ventured. I can still recall the look on her face – an attractive combination of pride, humility, and pleasant surprise – as she nodded in confirmation. ‘I’m an historian myself and a fan of your work,’ I continued admiringly. She smiled and accepted the compliment gracefully.” Curator and historian Ben Clinton-Baker recalls his meeting and friendship with the late renowned cultural historian Maria Tippett, who passed away one year ago.

The reinvention(s) of B.J. Corneil

Inspired by a fearless and revengeful “Queen of Outlaws,” the spirited young protagonist of a vibrant, prairie-set debut novel begins a lengthy quest for self-determination as she moves from job to job, location to location, and man to man in the early twentieth century. —Trish Bowering reviews I Want to Die in My Boots, by Natalie Appleton (Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2025) $28.65 / 9781990071270

‘To a path of healing’

“Now You Know Me should serve as guide for everyone on how to learn from each other about what truth and reconciliation really means. The book is uniquely composed, giving voice to both men through alternating passages. It is a perfect composition, touching on many topics in 54 short chapters of roughly 300 pages, that is quick to read.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Now You Know Me: Seeing the Unhidden Truth in Settler Colonialism, by k’ʷunəmɛn Joe Gallagher and John Matterson (Surrey: Hancock House, 2024) $24.95 / 9780888397829

‘You simply live through it’

With three timelines—1908, 1934, 1998—and “a ghoulish atmosphere that will delight dark academia and horror fans alike,” a prolific author’s latest novel drips with chills, trials, and, of course, witchcraft. —Sophia Wasylinko reviews The Bewitching, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Toronto: Del Rey, 2025) $39.00 / 9780593874325

An ‘otherwise normal conversation’

A “masterful book of poetry” studies and remarks on “the debris of our messy human experience: the relationships, the griefs, the final weeks of someone’s life, and the struggle to make sense of things, as well as the actual litter of our living in this world.” —Al Rempel reviews Parade of Storms, by Evelyn Lau (Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2025) $18.00 / 9781772142457

‘“Am I writing anything? Memos.”’

“It was the same when he was very young and had to support himself by working in the UBC Bookstore (or Book Sore, as he called it). But it was worse when he had no jobs and had to resort to begging from friends like Al Purdy and John Robert Colombo, or applying for Canada Council grants, which at first turned him down, leading him to become bitter and complaining.” Sheldon Goldfarb reviews The Weather & the Words: The Selected Letters of John Newlove, 1963-2003, by J.A. Weingarten (ed.) (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2025) $95 / 9781771126830

Fledglings

In a soft-spoken and subtle debut YA novel, a pre-teen boy learns to understand and care for a pair of ducks. It’s a ‘still waters’ sort of book that runs surprisingly deep. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Project Wild One, by Louise Sidley (Leaside: Red Deer Press, 2025) $14.95 / 9780889957633

‘I think we’re hooped’

In “an excitement-packed novel” with a “fascinating premise,” a loose group of family and friends plots an escape from a Canada that has been occupied by the American military. The group faces peril, bad weather, and a fate that’s not revealed until the final pages. —Valerie Green reviews Fleeing the 51st State: A Voyage of Resistance and Hope, by Peter Freeman (Vancouver: Tablet Publications, 2025) $35.00 / 9781069460813

Family, camaraderie, and a stolen ring

The sleuthing elements of this YA novel have their appeal, but the real stand outs include the interplay between teammates and the “multi-generational openness and connections.” —Alison Acheson reviews Rhapsody Smith, Ice Angel, by Lorna Schultz Nicholson (Winnipeg: Yellow Dog/Great Plains Press, 2025) $18.95 / 9781773371306

The museum’s relationship with Oceania

“Mayer is keenly aware of the wider challenges that face all the islands of the Pacific and the contribution that museums can make to understanding, and perhaps even addressing them.” Robin Fisher reviews Sea of Islands: Exploring Objects, Stories and Memories from Oceania, by Carol E. Mayer (Vancouver: Museum of Anthropology and Figure 1 Publishing, 2025) $55 / 9781773271552

‘When does innovation become tradition?’

“Her garments are not mere adornments; they are declarations of cultural pride, visual manifestations of a living tradition.” Amy Tucker reviews Dorothy Grant: An Endless Thread, by Dorothy Grant (in collaboration with the Haida Gwaii Museum) (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2024) $50 / 9781773272412

‘Evocative and stark illustrations’

“Don’t be fooled by the wonderfully charming colour palette or whimsical and intricate art in these pages: this work is a unique, darkly austere look at the lives of the O’Dwyer family.” Jeffrey Stychin reviews Salt Green Death, by Katarina Thorsen (Wolfville: Conundrum Press, 2025) $30 / 9781772621068

How history can build

“It identified approximately where Frederich Trump’s Arctic Hotel/restaurant/brothel had been located in 1901. The Arctic had originally been built in Bennett, BC, but when the railroad was completed to Whitehorse in 1900, he dismantled the hotel, moved the lumber to Whitehorse along with all the fixings and rebuilt on a waterfront location facing the White Pass depot and the Yukon River.” Yukon Story Laureate John Firth writes about the connection between an old BC/Yukon business venture and the current president of the United States

Not one of the boys

“This must have been my first long journey. At the age of six it was certainly the event that made the greatest continuous impression on me, and the almost three years that it introduced, from November 1940, after much of the worst of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain had already been endured, to the Autumn of 1943, when we returned to London just in time for the Doodlebugs, the V1 Flying Bombs, gave me a different perspective on English life from what I would otherwise have had in suburban London, where I was to live for the rest of my childhood and adolescence.” Christopher Levenson contributes the introductory part of his memoir, Not One of the Boys.

Reconciling conservatism and feminism

“Pentecostal Preacher Woman is meticulous in historical detail, with 31 pages of end notes, a bibliography, and index. Each chapter begins with a summary and ends with an analysis of the chapter. Ambrose’s introduction is thorough: she provides the overview of Gerard’s trajectory from her early life in a dysfunctional (her words) family to her death as a respected and honoured Pentecostal.” Wendy Burton reviews Pentecostal Preacher Woman: The Faith and Feminism of Bernice Gerard, by Linda M. Ambrose (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024) $37.95 / 9780774870245

Dreaming of tramping the hills

“For people interested in these journeys, perhaps 20 individuals at most in any given year, this book will be an essential starting point for their research. Perhaps the biggest market for this book will be people who just want to read about the region and visit it vicariously. These people will be well rewarded by this book, and ultimately it may be these dreamers who get the most value from it.” Glenn Woodsworth reviews Coast Mountain High Routes: A guide to 46 high route and alpine traverses in the Coast Mountains, by John Baldwin (Vancouver: John Baldwin, 2025) $59.00 / 9780991947966

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