BC Books From the Cariboo

In 1964, Patricia MacKay immigrated to Canada from England in search of the wild-open lands and cowboy culture that captivated her as a child. In the 1960s, the Wild West was still alive and kicking in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, although it had been tamed—a little. Old-time hospitality and helping anyone in need was the acknowledged way of life.

Pat learned the Cariboo-Chilcotin way of life first hand by spending her summers working on guest ranches and finding other jobs to keep her occupied dur …

This time the trio is in historic Barkerville, a gold rush town with a secret.

Rusty, Katie and Sheila are sent out of town with Rusty's grandparents to keep them out of trouble. After witnessing what they take to be a ghost in the night, the three friends find themselves involved in a mystery from the past that seems to have a few other people interested as well. New information has come to light about a fortune in missing gold, a centuries-old curse and a missing miner. While the three budding …

Most of this novel is based on historical fact, including the actual names of rivers, mountains and towns — a few of which were christened by those who actually constructed the telegraph line. By early 1866, the overland telegraph line had been built to Fort Fraser, east of Prince George. Exploration had been conducted to a point a few miles north of Kispiox Village, near Hazelton, one of the Gitxsan villages currently under land claim negotiations. Explorers had been sent northward out of For …

In 1974 Lorne Dufour moved to Alkali Lake Reserve, a Shuswap community near Williams Lake in British Columbia, to help reopen the local elementary school. Like many First Nation communities across Canada, Alkali Lake had been ravaged by decades of residential schools and forced religion. Colonialism had robbed them of their language and culture and had left a legacy of abuse and alcoholism. But in 1972, Chief Andy Chelsea and his wife Phyllis took it upon themselves to lead their community on a …

Central Beauty: Wildflowers and Flowering Shrubs of the Southern Interior of British Columbia is a follow-up to three previous volumes on wildflowers written by Neil Jennings and published by Rocky Mountain Books. It is being published at the same time as Coastal Beauty Wildflowers and Flowering Shrubs of Coastal British Columbia and Vancouver Island, making a set of five books in the series.

All five books include exceptional photographs and interesting information about each plant. For ease o …

Gerry Bracewell has lived in the Chilcotin Valley for over seventy-five years. She helped pioneer the valley's early school system and was an advocate for the school district until 1974. Gerry worked and wrote for the Williams Lake Tribune for many years while continuing to run her ranch and raise four children. For five decades, Gerry was a sought-after guide in the Chilcotin. In 2004, she was inducted into the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame as a Pioneer Rancher.

After Sonia Cornwall's father died in 1939, her mother inherited the Onward Ranch and a huge debt. To make the ranch viable, a twenty-year-old Sonia traded paintbrush for pitchfork, labouring alongside the male ranch hands. But after marrying Hugh Cornwall in 1947, Sonia had time for painting once again. She learned techniques from some of Canada's most celebrated artists who came to visit the Onward Ranch, and later her home at the Jones Ranch, from Peter Aspell, Mollly Bobak and Jack Hardman t …

Growing up in the 1930s, Adeline Beale knows little of the outside world or the looming shadows of a second world war. Addie-as her grandfather Chauncey Beynon Beale affectionately calls her- believes that everything she could ever want or need is to be found on his cattle ranch, the place her family calls home, or in the little town twelve bush miles away, a place called Sorry. After tragedy strikes her family, Addie holds her sorrows close to her heart. Only later will she learn that her grand …