“Readers of this collection will be moved by the brilliance, passion, and honesty of the essays…” Penny Haggarty reviews Sharp Notions: Essays from the Stitching Life by Marita Dachsel and Nancy Lee, editors (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023) $32.95 ISBN 9781551529257
“Informing her adolescent readers but not leaving them feeling helpless is a delicate balance that Ridge achieves…” Ginny Ratsoy reviews Evolution under Pressure: How we Change Nature and How Nature Changes Us by Yolanda Ridge (Toronto: Annick Press, 2023) $17.99 / 9781773217529
When we launched The British Columbia Review — then The Ormsby Review — in September 2016, little did we expect that seven years later we’d post our 2000th review. I’m grateful to everyone — reviewers, publishers, authors, booksellers, and readers — for making it such a success and promoting BC writers, writing, and culture. It… Read more No. 2000 for the BC Review!
Tear by Erica McKeen Toronto: Invisible Books, 2022 $22.95 / 9781778430060 Reviewed by Myshara Herbert-McMyn * When Frances moves into 48 Ford Crescent with her roommates Ky, Katie, and Reese she knows that something is wrong with the house. This line from the first chapter explains her apprehension very well and sets the tone for… Read more Horror at 48 Ford Crescent
Ten Stories that Worried My Mother by Winona Kent New Westminster: Blue Devil Books, 2023 $14.99 / 9781777329495 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Best known as a writer of cozy mystery novels, New Westminster’s Winona Kent has organized this eclectic collection of mostly previously published works (dating from the early 1980s to the 2020s) chronologically…. Read more Story collection features whimsy and wit
Tracking Giants: Big Trees, Tiny Triumphs, and Misadventures in the Forest by Amanda Lewis Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2023 $24.95 / 781771646734 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * As I write from our province’s southern Interior, amidst the worst air quality in the world, I find I must state the obvious. The lessons Amanda Lewis accrues in… Read more 1963 A quest for Champions
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
Boomerangst By George M. Johnson Kamloops, BC: Pavilion Theatre, June 5-17, 2023 Reviewed by Wendy Weseen * I’m not a Boomer. I was cheated of that by being born a year before the end of WWII, not quite belonging to the age group that boomed at the war’s end and has been spoken of with… Read more 1896 An Age of Aquarius eco-comedy
Drawing Botany Home: A Rooted Life by Lyn Baldwin Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2023 $30.00 / 9781771605922 Reviewed by Nina Shoroplova * Lyn Baldwin, PhD, has lived a life at the “confluence of choice and change.” As have most of us. But as a botanist, an ecologist, and a philosopher, especially about her own life… Read more 1892 ‘Plant aware, nature aware’
False CreekBy Jane Munro Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2022$19.95 / 9781990776090 Reviewed by Jodi Lundgren * I happened to open False Creek after a few days’ immersion in Milton’s Renaissance epic, Paradise Lost, and was unexpectedly struck by continuities between the two works. No, Munro’s book is not a narrative poem, much less an… Read more 1885 Poetic ‘intelligence, curiosity, wonderment, and humility’
The Wild By Owen Laukkanen Toronto: Underlined, 2021 $13.99 / 9780593179741 Reviewed by C.L. Shoemaker * YA fiction by mystery writer and Vancouver resident Owen Laukkanen, The Wild is a third-person dive into the thoughts and ideas of Dawn, a seventeen-year-old drug addict living with a drug dealer twice her age. When Dawn comes home… Read more 1881 Grief, detox, murder, and wilderness tips
Radio Jet Lag By Gregor Craigie Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2023 $24.95 / 9781770866713 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Radio Jet Lag, a lightly satiric comic novel, is at once a paean to the city of Victoria, a detailed account of the fast-paced world of radio broadcasting, a portrait of the trials and tribulations of contemporary… Read more 1878 Satiric comedy with ‘relevant themes and a compelling plot’
Sophia’s Secrets By George M. Johnson (illustrated by Sara Casilda) New York: Clavis Publishing, 2023 $28.50 / 9781605376103 How Hope Became An Activist By George M. Johnson (illustrated by Danielle Grandi) London, UK: Dixi Books, 2020 $19.99 / 9781913680008 Marisa and the Mountains By George M. Johnson (illustrated by Chelsea O’Byrne) Vancouver: Simply Read Books,… Read more 1867 ‘Altogether lovely’ books for kids
Tides of the Sovereign By Kate Gateley Victoria: FriesenPress, 2022 $37.99 / 9781039126572 Reviewed by Myshara Herbert-McMyn * Kate Gateley’s debut novel Tides of the Sovereign is a tale a millennium in the making. Julia and Domhnall are fated lovers kept apart lifetime after lifetime when they’re cursed by the infamous Child of Rome: Cassius… Read more 1866 Magic, curses, and prophecies
Killer Coin: A Vancouver Island Mystery by Elka Ray Toronto: Seventh Street Books, 2020 $17.95 / 9781645060154 Reviewed by C.L. Shoemaker * Written by Victoria author Elka Ray, Killer Coin: A Vancouver Island Mystery follows Toronto divorce lawyer Toby Wong. Having recently relocated to Victoria to be close to her mother, Toby is… Read more 1865 Twist endings and ‘aha’ moments
To Track a Traitor: A Lane Winslow Mystery by Iona Whishaw Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2023 $18.95 / 9781771513876 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Iona Whishaw doesn’t allow her heroine much time for grass growing underfoot in this, the tenth in the Lane Winslow Mystery series. It is spring 1948, and fast on the heels of… Read more 1832 ‘Rife with suspects and motives’
Nerve: Lessons on Leadership from Two Women Who Went First by Martha Piper and Indira Samarasekera, with a foreword by Kim Campbell Toronto: ECW Press, 2022 $36.95 / 9781770416017 Reviewed by Amy Tucker * In a world where the glass ceiling is still very much present, Nerve: Lessons on Leadership from Two Women Who Went… Read more 1818 The world of leadership
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
Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story by Kim Senklip Harvey with the Fire Company Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2020 $16.95 / 9781772012422 Reviewed by Amanda Wandler * This story, this ceremony is for our Indigenous Peoples, it is to give voice and illuminate the power of Indigenous womxn. It is about our unwielded power and unsuppressed Settler supremacy… Read more 1802 Return of the matriarchs
Crime Wave: Women of a Certain Age. A Canada West Anthology by Elizabeth Bass, Karen L. Abrahamson, and J.E. Barnard (editors), with a foreword by Gail Bowen Vancouver: Sisters in Crime (Canada West Chapter), 2022 $24.27 / 9781777246655 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Stories are not chapters of novels. They should not be read one… Read more 1795 Move over, Miss Marple