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Biography

Colonial diary for historical context

“Reading the Diaries of Henry Trent is valuable in showing contemporary readers that life’s choices have ways of kicking back against more expected plotlines.” Jeff Oliver reviews Reading the Diaries of Henry Trent: The Everyday Life of a Canadian Englishman, 1842-1898 by J. I. Little (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021) $37.95 / 9780228006619

Sveva Caetani’s Recapitulation Series

“Sveva, thus, grew up in a world of literary works not only European, British, and American but also works in comparative religion, studies of Western civilization, as well as of the history and traditions of the Near and Far East. Thus, she was an individual outside of the norm of Canadian society in Vernon.” Adriana A. Davies writes about the late Vernon-based artist Sveva Caetani.

Roughing it in Port Hardy

“Hunting and fishing for survival is part of life for an increasing number of North Americans. The Port Hardy memoir reminded me that I am not of that ilk and would likely die quickly if marooned on a deserted coastal island in Drouin’s backyard.” Past the End of the Road: A North Island Boyhood by Michel Drouin (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990776670

‘Different, and set apart’

“Although Roche has had to constantly encounter resistance to his own appearance by those who consider him initially repellant, it is this very impasse that enables him to teach and learn and develop more immense layers of empathy.” Catherine Owen reviews Standing at the Back Door of Happiness: And How I Unlocked It by David Roche (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $22.95 / 9781990776762

‘Obscurity is the fate of the poet’

“Burn, baby, burn, they must have said and this is the fire in Bowering who…is on a feminist re-investigation of the legacy of a lost lady poet.” Linda Rogers reviews More Richly in Earth: A Poet’s Search for Mary MacLeod by Marilyn Bowering (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) $34.95 / 9780228021124

Emotional truths

Poet foregrounds nature imagery in her thoughtful inquires about family, cultural heritage, grief, and identity. —Daniela Elza reviews We Follow the River, by Onjana Yawnghwe (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2024) $20.00 / 9781773861388

‘To learn who we are’

“Christina Myers’ new memoir Halfway Home is a raw and riotous account of what it can be like for a woman to move through her life.” Natalie Virginia Lang reviews Halfway Home: Thoughts from Midlife by Christina Myers (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2024) $23.99 / 9781487012441

Far North, as it was

“Far too many non-Indigenous books on the North are presented in the ‘front lines of history’ format, with the authors determined to emphasize their path-breaking work, travels, observations, or experiences. Yukon Wanderlust has none of that self-aggrandizement. Their northern activities are described in a matter-of-fact and unexaggerated fashion.” Ken Coates and William R. Morrison review Yukon Wanderlust by Don Barz (Celtic Frog Publishing, 2021) $29.95 / 9781989092415

‘Cartographer of memory, of tradition’

“This is a book about uncovering and recovering what it means to come from a still-living matriarchal system. We’re not talking about a flakey New Age reconstruction of an ancient feminist ideal. Think of the rugged Yukon up the road; imagine isolated communities, vast horizons of smallish spruce, pine, aspen, balsam. It’s a place, Knott confirms, where female vision and leadership has survived with dignity and respect for a long time.” Trevor Carolan reviews Becoming A Matriarch: a memoir by Helen Knott (Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2023) $32 / 9780385697774

Elegizing Dad

Poet’s third volume delves into the poignant memories of an observant child whose father faced “impossible problems.” —Mary Ann Moore reviews Midway, by Kayla Czaga (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2024) $21.99 / 9781487012601

Biography of a pioneer bureaucrat

“He went from penniless ex-British Navy man to influential roles in the new colony increasing his annual salary with each step up.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Eventful Life of Philip Hankin: Worldwide Traveller and Witness to British Columbia’s Early History by Geoff Mynett (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023) $26.00 / 9781773861197

Fighting for equal status

“Why would a woman become a soldier, specifically a male soldier?” Phyllis Reeve reviews Sisters in Arms: Female Warriors from Antiquity to the New Millennium by Julie Wheelwright (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2020) $32.50 / 9781472838001

‘A place worth fighting for’

“‘It became a philosophical/legal statement about the land. I hope it reaches out to Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences and will inform people going forward with reconciliation.’” Sage Birchwater reviews Lha Yudit’ih We Always Find a Way: Bringing the Tsilhqot’in Title Case Home by Lorraine Weir, with Chief Roger William (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2023) $35 / 9781772013825

Enchanted by evolution

“Beyond acceptance it is the mentorship of Ian MacTaggart Cowan, whose connection to Peter Larkin that provides Grant with financial support for his first evolutionary research project on an uninhabited island of the Tres Marias off the Mexican coast.” Dr. Loys Maingon reviews Enchanted by Daphne: The Life of an Evolutionary Naturalist by Peter R. Grant (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023) $44.00 / 9780691246246

‘Posthumous gathering of paths’

“There is much to learn from this candid autobiography by a performer who rarely let the mask slip…” Linda Rogers reviews The Tao of Taro by Taro Zion Joy (Victoria: FriesenPress, 2022) $16.49 / 9781039148666

The ‘colour of everyday miracles’

Bowen Island inspires a poet and painter to celebrate how “here, right here, is a blessing.” —Mary Ann Moore reviews Water Forgets Its Own Name, by Jude Neale & Nicholas Jennings (Victoria: Ekstasis Editions, 2023) $27.95 / 9781771715300

Fish, flesh, or good red herring?

“…there’s a spirited new voice at play here, with writing that flips from lyrical portraits of place to colloquial phrasing and pet names for everything from his kayak to his food.” Jeanette Taylor reviews A Complex Coast: A Kayak Journey from Vancouver Island to Alaska by David Norwell (Victoria: Heritage House, 2023) $29.95 ISBN 9781772034493

‘A young woman from Burnaby’

“There is much to admire about Christine Sinclair. Not only is she the top international scorer of all time, but she is well-liked and respected around the world.” Valerie Green reviews Playing The Long Game: A Memoir by Christine Sinclair with Stephen Brunt (Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2023) $23.00 / 9781039004627

Rage + sin = freedom

Exceptional essays “elicit gasps, induce chills.” —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Dinner on Monster Island: Essays, by Tania De Rozario (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2024) $17.99 / 9780063299665

Responding to disaster, sexual identity

“Woven into this account is a backstory about the doctor’s evolving career as a brilliant pathologist, his not always successful private life, and his painfully slow coming out as a gay man.” Howard Macdonald Stewart reviews Fifteen Thousand Pieces – A Medical Examiner’s journey through disaster by Gina Leola Woolsey (Hamilton: Guernica Editions Inc., 2023) $25.00 ISBN 9781771838115

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