A Time of Light and Shadow: To Asia, Africa, and the Long Way Home by Ella Harvey Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2022 $28.00 / 9781771605694 Reviewed by Margot Fedoruk * Come come, whoever you are Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. — Rumi Ella Harvey’s life…
Read more 1616 Nurse on the front line
The Darkness in the Light by Daniel Kalla Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada, 2022 $24.99 / 9781982191399 Reviewed by Valerie Green * If you enjoy gripping, psychological thrillers, Daniel Kalla’s book The Darkness in The Light will hold your attention to the very end. The story takes place in Anchorage, Alaska, and in the remote…
Read more 1595 Beware of Ketopram
Front-Wave Boomers: Growing (Very) Old, Staying Connected, and Reimagining Aging by Gillian Ranson Vancouver: UBC Press (On Point Press), 2022 $22.95 / 9780774890502 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Did you know that the United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Healthy Ageing and the World Health Organization has recently begun its “Global Campaign to…
Read more 1554 What boomers really need
The Acid Room: The Psychedelic Trials and Tribulations of Hollywood Hospital by Jesse Donaldson and Erika Dyck Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2022 $18.00 / 9781772141863 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Acid Test in New West: LSD entered the world through the doors of a BC Hospital Before LSD guru Timothy Leary (“tune in, turn on and…
Read more 1524 LSD & Hollywood North
Words from the Dead: Relevant Readings in the Covid Age by Sean Arthur (Art) Joyce Victoria: Ekstasis Editions, 2022 $25.95 / 9781771714587 Reviewed by Christopher A. Shaw * Capturing the “Landscape of the Imagination” in the Age of Covid No matter where one stands on the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccines, and who’s responsible, the events of…
Read more 1519 Reading the Covid landscape
A Funny Kind of Paradise by Jo Owens Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Random House Canada), 2021 $22.95 / 9780735278820 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * An extended care facility in Victoria might seem a claustrophobic setting for a novel, particularly when a stroke has rendered speechless its narrator, Francesca, who inhabits a room with four…
Read more 1516 Memories and caregivers
The Caregiver’s Companion by Patricia Jean Smith Oakville, ON: Rock’s Mills Press, 2022 $25.00 / 9781772442441 Reviewed by Betty Jane Hegerat * The cover of The Caregiver’s Companion by Patricia Smith is graced with an image by Chinese print maker, Hao Boyi, of two Manchurian red-crowned cranes. These birds are rare and endangered. To imagine…
Read more 1491 Be brave in giving
Sounds from Silence: Reflections of a Child Holocaust Survivor, Psychiatrist and Teacher by Robert Krell Amsterdam: Amsterdam Publishers, 2021 $21.95 (U.S.) / 9493231488 Reviewed by Peter Hay * From the outside, Robert Krell’s memoirs present us with a man of great humanity who, after a long and distinguished career in medicine and psychiatry, has been…
Read more 1466 A dozen kinds of hiding
Dreamers, Skeptics, and Healers: the Story of BC’s Medical School. The UBC Faculty of Medicine at 70 years by Wendy Cairns, John Cairns, David Ostrow, and Gavin Stuart Vancouver: Page Two Books, 2021 $50.00 / 9781989603895 Reviewed by Jaime Smith * As a graduate of the UBC medical school in 1976 and after training there…
Read more 1363 Beds and infrastructure at UBC
Not of Reason: A Recipe for Outrunning Sadness by Rita Moir Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2021 $22.95 / 9781773860633 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Author Rita Moir’s Memoir Not of Reason connected with me on many levels. It is an impeccable combination of sorrow and humour when life is at its lowest. The author relates…
Read more 1358 Dying in the natural order
Among Silent Echoes: A Memoir of Trauma and Resilience by Phyllis Dyson Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9781773860640 Reviewed by Lee Reid * “My mother had needed help, not bullets” (p. 21). With Phyllis Dyson’s book, Among Silent Echoes, it is not immediately evident why Phyllis, at age 45, decides to explore the…
Read more 1339 When belonging goes bad
Happy is the New Healthy by Joan Neehall Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada (Forefront Books), 2021 $36.00 / 9781948677707 Reviewed by Lee Reid * “Keep your heart open in hell,” is a piercing term from the 1980s that has stayed with me for the past forty years. Nowadays, hell seems poignantly applicable to the losses and…
Read more 1317 Survival of the kindest
Ron Verzuh reviews two books: Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic by Bonnie Henry and Lynn Henry Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Allen Lane), 2021 $26.95 / 9780735241855 * Soap and Water and Common Sense: The Definitive Guide to Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites, and Disease by Bonnie Henry Toronto: House…
Read more 1303 Bonnie Henry: writer
Pandemic Spotlight: Canadian Doctors at the Front of the Covid-19 Fight by Ian Hanomansing Madeira Park: Douglas and McIntyre, 2021 $22.95 / 9781771622929 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * For nearly two years we have existed in a time warp. When I see a reference to something which happened in April, and now it is October,…
Read more 1285 From anonymity to spotlight
The Last Goldfish: A True Tale of Friendship by Anita Lahey Windsor, ON: Biblioasis, 2020 $22.95 / 9781771963435 Reviewed by Carol Matthews * Part bildungsroman and part meta-memoir, Anita Lacey’s The Last Goldfish; A True Tale of Friendship is an account of a young girl watching a beloved friend struggle with and ultimately succumb to…
Read more 1214 Loving and losing Louisa
The Age of Fentanyl: Ending the Opioid Epidemic by Brodie Ramin Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2020 $22.99 / 9781459746701 Reviewed by Jeffrey Stychin * This book is not for the faint of heart, despite its clinical examination of the devastating world of opiate addiction. Brodie Ramin’s heartfelt compassion extends through every chapter. The Age of Fentanyl…
Read more 1188 Facing the fentanyl crisis
Radical Acts of Love: How we find hope at the end of life by Janie Brown Toronto: Penguin Random House (Anchor Canada), 2021 $22.00 / 9780385694759 Reviewed by Lee Reid * The Cree woman invites her friend to share a covenant: “There comes a time, she said, when the elders must release those stories into…
Read more 1169 Dying with love and compassion
Always Pack a Candle: A Nurse in the Cariboo-Chilcotin by Marion McKinnon Crook Victoria: Heritage House, 2021 $22.95 / 9781772033625 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * Delivering healthcare throughout the geographical vastness of B.C. would seem impossible — and yet health professionals and, yes, governments, have been doing just that for generations, since 1869 with the…
Read more 1165 Cariboo truth and invention
Improbable Journeys: From Crossing the Himalayas on Horseback to a Career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology by Dr. Bernard A.O. Binns and Ron Smith Oakville, ON: Rock’s Mills Press, 2020 $29.95 / 9781772441932 Reviewed by John Kenwright * Editor’s note: Occasionally we run two reviews of the same book at The British Columbia Review. May Q….
Read more 1152 A career in postwar medicine
Four Umbrellas: A Couple’s Journey Into Young-Onset Alzheimer’s by June Hutton and Tony Wanless Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2020 $21.99 / 9781459747791 Reviewed by Lee Reid * “Ah yes, I remember it well,” is the comical reminiscing of mismatched memories from the iconic film Gigi (1958). In the nostalgic film, two aging lovers sing about their…
Read more 1121 A testament to resilience