A Brief and Endless Sea by Barbara Pelman Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023 $20.00 / 9781773861258 doom eager by Karl Meade Salt Spring Island: Rainbow Publishers/Raven Chapbooks, 2023 $22.95 / 9781778160349 Reviewed by Joe Enns * Two Vancouver Island poets draw on vast landscapes as they examine grief and mortality through life’s seasonality. Victoria-based poet…
Read more Life’s seasonality, in two poem collections
Attention students in Graduate Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University! * Since 2018, students in the Graduate Liberal Studies programme at Simon Fraser University have contributed numerous essays, memoirs, poems, and book reviews to The British Columbia Review. We at the BC Review are delighted to maintain a productive collaboration with the GLS community, as…
Read more 1970 Calling Graduate Liberal Studies
Pacific Voyages: The Story of Sail in the Great Ocean by Gordon Miller Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2023 $59.95 / 9781771623476 Reviewed by Robin Fisher * This is a great book about a great ocean and the tiny ships that made it manifest. The literature on the exploration of the Pacific, it sometimes seems,…
Read more 1967 ‘A long artistic tradition’
The Rangitangs: Life on the Edge – A Humorous Look at Coastal Loggers Float-camp Life from the 1920s to 1950s by Mike Whalen Self-published by Mike Whalen, 2023 $40.00 (soft cover) / 978173885723 Reviewed by Matthew Downey * Inspired by the cartoon collection from which it draws its name, The Rangitangs: Life on the Edge is…
Read more 1961 Logging camp life
Four Seasons by the Salish Sea: Discovering the Natural Wonders of Coastal Living by Carolyn Redl, photography by Nancy Randall Victoria: Heritage House Publishing, 2023 $32.95 / 9781772034479 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Author Carolyn Redl has been fascinated with life along the Salish Sea ever since she moved to Vancouver Island from the prairies…
Read more 1953 ‘Observations and discoveries’
Antarctic Pioneer: The Trailblazing Life of Jackie Ronne by Joanna Kafarowski Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2022 $25.99 / 9781459749535 Reviewed by Amy Tucker * Prepare to embark on an awe-inspiring adventure as author Joanna Kafarowski takes us on a captivating exploration of one of the most remarkable women in the history of polar exploration in her…
Read more 1939 Remarkable journey of courage
Wrack Line by M.W. Jaeggle Regina: University of Regina Press, 2023 $19.95 /9780889779532 Reviewed by Joe Enns * Wrack Line, M.W. Jaeggle’s debut book of poetry, examines life in consideration of transitions and liminal distances “as crucial as the space / between prayer beads.” Jaeggle uses the wrack line—the area of seashore where organic material and…
Read more 1934 Isolation, grief, poetics, birdsong
Time to Wonder – Volume 2. A Kid’s Guide to BC’s Regional Museums: Vancouver Island, Salt Spring, Alert Bay, and Haida Gwaii by S. Lesley Buxton and Sue Harper Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2022 $22.00 / 9781771605069 Reviewed by Valerie Green * In view of the recent closure of Point Ellice House and Gardens in…
Read more 1921 Treasures from the past
Canada’s Place Names & How to Change Them by Lauren Beck Montreal: Concordia University Press, 2022 $34.95 / 9781988111391 Reviewed by Jeff Oliver * Is it possible to read a nation’s history through its place names? Lauren Beck’s new book Canada’s Place Names & How to Change Them makes a compelling case for it. This…
Read more 1910 What’s in a name?
Called by the North: Extraordinary Adventures of the Fur Trade, Shipbuilders, Navigators and Traders in Northwestern Canada and Alaska by George H.S. Duddy Maryland: Heritage Books, 2022 $44.95 / 97807884240097 Reviewed by Ken Favrholdt * This book is an extraordinary feat of research and writing. It is especially significant as the Arctic has become the…
Read more 1907 The legacy of a shipwright
A Shattered Calm By Bruce F.B. Hall Victoria: FriesenPress, 2023 $24.32 / 9781039134836 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Bruce F.B. Hall retired early to travel, to sail, and to become a storyteller while using a wide range of his own experiences to become an author of note. A Shattered Calm, Hall’s self-published debut novel, is…
Read more 1888 A ‘particularly spellbinding’ thriller
Sheltering in the Backrush: A History of Twin Islands by Jeanette Taylor Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2023 $24.95 / 9781990776113 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Jeanette Taylor begins her book with the words: “Twin Islands, a private retreat just off the entrance to Desolation Sound Marine Park, is a small place with a big…
Read more 1880 Small place, big story
Sentient Stones by Susan McCaslin Salt Spring Island, BC: Raven Chapbooks, 2023 $20.00 / 9781778160332 Wild Kin By Marlene Grand Maître Salt Spring Island, BC: Raven Chapbooks, 2023 $20.00 / 9781778160325 Green Islands: Poems from the Great Bear Rainforest By Ian Thomas Salt Spring Island, BC: Raven Chapbooks, 2023 $22.95 / 9781778160318 …
Read more 1864 Three takes on spirituality and nature
Bosun: The Mariner’s Journals By Gary H. Karlsen Victoria, BC: First Choice Books, 2023 $24.95 / 9781775266921 Reviewed by Eric W. Sager * Bosun, whose name is Ulf Kleivik, is well into his nineties, living in a small wooden house north of the Arctic circle. He finds a “penman,” a writer, to turn Kleivik’s journals…
Read more 1842 A maritime saga
Cooking Tips for Desperate Fishwives: An Island Memoir by Margot Fedoruk Victoria: Heritage House, 2022 $22.95 / 9781772033953 Reviewed by Susan Sanford Blades * Cooking Tips for Desperate Fishwives, Margot Fedoruk’s island memoir, instantly captures her reader’s attention by beginning right in the thick of things: “The night I ran over Rick with my car,…
Read more 1834 Stuck in the middle of nowhere with you
Frances Barkley: Eighteenth-century Seafarer by Cathy Converse Victoria: Heritage House, 2023 $12.95 / 9781772034417 Reviewed by Dave Flawse * Frances and Captain Charles Barkley navigated the Imperial Eagle into Nootka Sound in June 1787. The wife, husband, and crew sailed across the globe through storms and pirate-infested waters to procure a seemingly humble item—sea otter…
Read more 1826 An adventurous couple
The Ridge by Robert Bringhurst Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2023 $22.95 / 9781990776250 Reviewed by Harold Rhenisch * When poetry flows through Robert Bringhurst, it sounds of wind, trees, waves, stones knocking in surf, and scraps of birds flashing past. It even sounds like a philosopher talking to those things. Bringhurst is a gardener who…
Read more 1814 At home on Quadra Island
Welcome Trevor and Brett by Richard Mackie * On behalf of the Board of the Ormsby Literary Society and our Advisory Board I’d like to welcome Trevor Marc Hughes and Brett Josef Grubisic as interim editors of The British Columbia Review for the year May 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024. The position was made possible…
Read more 1813 Welcome Trevor and Brett
Workboats for the World: The Robert Allan Story by Robert G. Allan, with Peter A. Robson, and with a foreword by Peter G. Noble Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2022 $99.95 / 9781550179873 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * The ferry George Black has plied the waters of the Yukon River between Dawson City and Alaska since…
Read more 1806 All the world’s a harbour
Incredible Crossings: The History and Art of the Bridges, Tunnels and Inland Ferries that Connect British Columbia by Derek Hayes Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2022 $46.95 / 9781550179903 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Pacific Highways and Byways: Travelling Through BC History by Boat, Train, Road or Armchair Pick a road, any road. Chances are you’ll…
Read more 1761 Pacific highways and byways