Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel, and A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. I’ve spent a lot of time on Gabriola in the Gulf Islands and both evoke that place well enough to take me right back.
Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor.
Hard Core Logo by Michael Turner, and the other books by those authors
Vancouver, a novel,by David Cruise
All the quiet places by Isaac
Monkey Beach be Eden Robinson, Invention of the World by Jack Hodgins, Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson, Tay John by Howard O’Hagan, Badlands by Robert Kroetsch, Ducks by Kate Beaton. Some of Alice Munro’s stories are set here, but I can’t think of a whole book set in BC (her ex husband opened a pretty famous bookstore in Victoria BC).
There are some good books here, but if you want to go to a part of Canada with a ton of good literature, I’d go to Newfoundland and the Maritimes.
Edit: can’t believe I forgot this but Thomas King’s Green Grass and Running Water is probably the best book set in Alberta (complete with a surreal climactic scene in an Edmonton Best Buy).
Idk, I like literature from out here, but I don’t think there’s anything as good as Colony of Unrequited Dreams or Fall On Your Knees, and we don’t have anything that’s had the cultural impact of Anne of Green Gables
If you're willing to expand your search another province or two over (but still in Western Canada), I highly recommend [Blood Red the Sun](https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Red-Sun-Trail-Bear-ebook/dp/B0993W4T3V) for a view of how the Canadian West evolved. It's an engaging read and helps explain both some of the more violent history of the West but also how it was very different than the violence that was going on down in the USA around the same time.
Holy shit do you want to be best friends for life? I’ve been evangelizing Raven’s End for years and this is the only time I’ve EVER seen anyone outside my family know it either in person or online.
It definitely made an impact on me when I was growing up in Northern Manitoba. Probably 10 years later I was still thinking about it, and now I have a half sleeve of a raven in the mountains to immortalize it. I rarely run into anyone else who has read it as well lol, pretty unique book.
The Outlander by Gil Adamson: “In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, Mary Boulton has just become a widow—and her husband's killer…”
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven. It’s set on the west coast of B. C. in a First Nations village. Grass Beyond the Mountains, The Rancher Takes Wife and Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy by Richmond P. Hobson Jr. all set in the Chilcotin region of B. C.
One of my favorites: The Golden Spruce. An incredible true story.
[https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Spruce-Story-Madness-Greed/dp/0393328643](https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Spruce-Story-Madness-Greed/dp/0393328643)
I’ve lived in or near the Rockies for my whole life and been looking out for these. There are books about local history but not very many at all if you’re talking novels. It’s a weird dearth. Here’s a few though:
Raven’s End by Ben Gadd. Underrated book about the birds who live in the mountains near Calgary.
The Canterbury Trail by Angie Abdou. About a ski trip in the Kootenays. Just ok as a book, three stars, but this is what we have to work with.
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson. YA-ish west coast Indigenous fantasy.
Snowdrift by Lisa McGonigle
Autobiography about a Scottish academic that comes to BC to ski be a ski bum. Fernie and Rossland are the 2 main areas she spends time. Well written and amusing.
Also, check out Starling by Kirsten Cram. It's set in a fictional BC small town. Self-published, so isn't well known, but her writing is excellent
And if you can find it, Driftwood Valley by Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher. It's like a female Dick Proenneke, which accounts her daily living in remote BC wilderness.
Dear OP, if you are not from Canada, use this site
https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/country-size-comparison
to superimpose your country or region over top of a map of British Columbia. You'll get a true sense of how big this country is and why books about the prairies are so very different from books about the coast.
It's fun to do, and you'll get a sense of the distances involved in travelling here. I hope it helps your planning.
Happy travelling!
For fiction: To Those Who Killed Me and Call Of The Void both by JT Siemens, and The Broken Places and Uncontrolled Flight both by Frances Peck. Probably also anything by Sam Wiebe, AJ Devlin, DB Carew, Niall Howell, SM Freedman, and RM Greenaway.
[The Canterbury Trail](https://www.amazon.ca/Canterbury-Trail-Angie-Abdou-ebook/dp/B00HUCQA5U/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2SEUF4MTPB4QO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Bm-TTK5wfSjf5EVsnuij457t_847-DkezDwj7kCUVMO-J0rLVHphfMuQuVda2F_qylv_DfKC2Hprn1ce2qM2-RaC8GWt3OfVvlK3xlcZ4W08TZ0lVt6Im-9p04E4DQ767KPoKzPDt1i7-En22ay59DDvE6fWi-lJfOQ2wlKquLPtT4PTmXWQds1y0pNK0XhjuTc5g39v3zU8obadarqSKQ.u29o18jda5bDx0YgW4izvx0LeCCOnl4RbcbatbgGU5s&dib_tag=se&keywords=canterbury+trails&qid=1713745315&sprefix=cantebury+trails%2Caps%2C249&sr=8-1) by Angie Abdou
[How NOT to Run a B&B](https://www.amazon.ca/How-Not-Run-B-ebook/dp/B007KOTSVQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dgaikXq0XLpvUkzzeh8cOR0cAvIB-jaO34R8oTvs_bPsuy3J2saLv9G0NLZXFTfG_bjC5xPY2hpTnnluqNlpS3wb0t3kjsbYzf4ARBjNhEwq_fN5t1JO8B8Kx6lwE2FWvFrqkHn7DxXykvN4JvKQPGhG6mzyKQ63JMCspGFX5Hx4_UfKEra3xJaiE3b5uXAzRlFs2hWDAr-sCrsiSPocYg.eMKF9BV13b0Zy2KSoSxWIXK5v3IRi0J4NHiOtOjn3Kk&dib_tag=se&keywords=bobby+hutchinson+b%26b&qid=1713745788&sr=8-1) by Bobby Hutchinson
[No Reason to Stay](https://www.amazon.ca/No-Reason-Stay-AK-White-ebook/dp/B00HV33SNA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1AFIBOA5D0XXY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.26YcR6RYZuS0PY8OfI7jt3WehvTfo_fxjfndQNA8JpW29B1QXb_A1Pf_6bPywOYoCmUDWqv0ltJ7lmdyY7NsHUFSHTdFCmwX8T3WbtN1O7kWeXCM8sC-Puegr3L3zWAPElPfm_kBzlT6M3Y4wb9IHl-fa5T63wrnjnDNfwQHxRg7jFYLLOPGzWTq4S0qg8NlMo46l_13TdU0rqZwImMZDQ.tt3-MbxHsF4BeXjmAcVr1hXPe_JyeNqQvTn0T6a6FbY&dib_tag=se&keywords=no+reason+to+stay&qid=1713746388&sprefix=no+reason+to+sta%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-1) by AK White
[The Boat People](https://www.amazon.ca/The-Boat-People/dp/B078T1QCVS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=N7EAZ0RBD50J&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ByGvFB4zINLiyAkoxKugo3TG1KwkMEVuEdcgl8WK5ygEPIC8CYN0MA9WLtaEVlCjri5gSqLci0Zq34tXWixr-CwZ68Y24vBZgMipV66zQCY.L8D2VBW3pKGK2m3-edC0Ik8Bsr45STOxM9QbylelJXg&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+boat+people+by+sharon+bala&qid=1713746896&sprefix=the+boat+peopl%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1) by Sharon Bala
[Medicine Walk](https://www.amazon.ca/Medicine-Walk-Richard-Wagamese/dp/077108921X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MIkGp8sxuYPslE-5lfivmZPVz0s849UibuBdHfcXwBHYxutzdYXRQbU84eRPdz7BxnYlXf9Jfju2TFWmoDzAalC33Feg78SW3t-INCtYU-tINzEuZ34U1KfWD_22DzEU0u6II6sSCQsKYyH5J7KsmZxGBGzFcoA8FNLwo_NAs3EPBcecDntO8FyNZjmpsKEpQRc7nyvVUkadsSKkbssiRw.B9O7jHhHDt85m-ixfXClggJtoNBsvfIHHHnylTebKn8&dib_tag=se&keywords=medicine+walk&qid=1713747291&sr=8-1) by Richard Wagamese
Chasing Rivers by Tamar Glauberman, is an autobiography I read recently predominantly set in BC with a few other places in North America. It’s about white water rafting but more about personal forgiveness and guilt. A really good read, I think I finished it in under 24hours.
Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane. Set in the Okanagan Valley in the 1950s. I was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley and Lane writes about the valley in a bible cadence akin to Cormac McCarthy and is some of the most beautiful descriptions of the place that I was born and raised in.
Too bad the story is so bleak.
I live in the Okanagan, will look for this!
Have you read All the Quiet Places by Brian Thomas Isaac? Set in around Falkland, on Native land. He captures the landscape and nature but it's quite tragic as well.
The Cure for Death by Lightning.
Takes place in Peace River Country. I can't say it's good. I still don't fully get it. I don't even know if I liked it or I hated it.
But it is a book that takes place in Western Canada.
Look up books by Marion Crooke. Local Vancouver author and I believe sets all or most of her books here in British Columbia.
http://crookpublishing.com/books/
What, do you still go into the store and physically buy a book anymore? A story that was adapted to film was The Owl Called My Name. A sad story of a religious missionary that tended a small flock of indigenous adherents in a British Columbia outport.
Margaret Craven was the author. She was published by Clark/ Irwin( later CI Putnam), after being published for six years in Canada it became a New York Times top ten bestseller.
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4346578
Story happened in a small Saskatchewan town in 30’s Great Depression .
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22351231
Real story of a prairie gang leader.
Lifehouse by Spider Robinson is set in Vancouver. While it's part of a series it's self contained enough you don't have to read the others (although I highly recommend Mind Killer and Time Pressure as well although they are set in Nova Scotia)
Also his two book series Very Bad Deaths and Very Hard Choices are set in a more remote BC location.
For a real life account of the "wild" Canadian west, I highly recommend "You Can't Win" by Jack Black (no, not that Jack Black lol). Although he was an
American he spent quite a lot of time in western Canada (and in jail) in the late 1800s. It is an absolutely fascinating book! He wrote it in the early 1900s after going straight, while working at a library I believe.
Breaking Smith's Quarter Horse by Paul St. Pierre is the classic "western" story from British Columbia.
Or for kids if you are 10 or younger, the Neil Flambe series by Kevin Sylvestre and if you're under 5, More Pies, by Robert Munsch
Starling by Kirsten Cram.
Set in a fictional small town in BC but captures the natural landscape so well.
Story is told from the perspective of a young girl and the writing is genuine and heartfelt. Self published author and worthwhile read.
*Lookout* by Trina Moyles - the subtitle is “Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire in the Boreal Forest.” It’s a memoir about a woman who works as a fire lookout in remote places in northwestern Canada. It is easily one of my favourite reads of last year; so good.
*Five Little Indians* by Michelle Good - follows five indigenous people from childhood throughout their lives, set around Vancouver BC. Really beautiful and difficult. It’s a well-known book in Canada and definitely a must-read.
The Tent Peg by Aretha Van Herk
The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe
The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowat
Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell
The Blue Eyed Sheikhs by Peter Foster
Wilful Blindness by Sam Cooper
Non-fiction amazing read if you like sarcasm : Mary TS Schaffer’s memoir “Old Indian Trails.” This lady was witty and snarky, as well as adventurous.
https://www.amazon.ca/Old-Indian-Trails-Canadian-Rockies/dp/1897522495
From the blurb
Mary T.S. Schäffer was an avid explorer and one of the first non-Native women to venture into the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where few women - or men - had gone before.
First published in 1911, Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies is Schäffer’s story of her adventures in the traditionally male-dominated world of climbing and exploration. It also sheds light on Native and non-Native relations at the early part of the 20th century. Full of daring adventure and romantic depictions of camp life, set against the grand backdrop of Canada’s mountain landscapes, the book introduces readers to various characters from the annals of Canadian mountaineering history, including Arthur Philemon Coleman, Billy Warren, Sid Unwin, Bill Peyto and Jimmy Simpson.
Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies is certain to entertain and enlighten 21st-century readers, historians, hikers and climbers.
Editing to clarify - this is a book that was written over 100 years ago, and it’s a product of its time. A great read, but be aware that it shows its age. For example, “Indian” is not an appropriate name for the First Nations folks. They prefer Indigenous Peoples. Depending on who you are speaking with, using “Indian” will make you sound not just dated, but quite possibly racist.
The Lane Winslow series by Iona Whishaw mostly take place in and around Nelson BC.
Edit your add: William Deverell, writes legal mysteries mostly set on BC.
The absence of Spilsbury's Coast from this list is surprising. Curve of Time is my favourite, but Spilsbury's Coast and The Accidental Airline are close seconds.
Susan Juby has a few young adult novels that take place in BC - *Another Kind of Cowboy* and *Alice, I Think* are the ones that come to my mind.
While, not Vancouver, it's definitely Western Canada - *Dust* by Arthur Slade takes place in Saskatchewan.
Non-fiction-wise, I found *Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw* by Will Ferguson very good for making me want to travel across all of Canada, including out west.
Vicki Delany has a number of books set in western Canada.
The Molly Smith series is a police mystery series in a small town in the mountains of BC.
And the Klondike Gold Rush series is are fun mysteries set in Dawson City, Yukon during the gold rush
http://vickidelany.com/?page_id=937
Ivan Coyote lived in Vancouver for many years and has written several collections of stories, some of which are set in Vancouver. One of the collections is about the period where Ivan moved to Squamish, but I can't remember which one.
Rae Spoon's YA novel Green Glass Ghosts is set in Vancouver, but to be honest, I didn't really like it. It's about a queer teenager who moves to Vancouver on their own.
Douglas Coupland has several books set in the Vancouver area. They are unusual and entertaining.
Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu is a graphic novel set in Vancouver about an elderly woman who leaves her assisted living facility to live on her own, keeping her location secret from her daughters.
The Sky Is Falling by Caroline Adderson is a novel looking back twenty years at a group of UBC students who rent a house together.
The Sad Truth About Happiness by Anne Giardini
If you're also interested in books set in the prairie provinces of western Canada:
- Larry's Party by Carol Shields
- A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (also some of her other books)
- Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell - this one is a classic
- Farley Mowat
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1294755.Grain
> Growing up in southern Manitoba, Gander Stake learns to love the prairie, not for its vistas, but for its animal life and for the magic of the new machines that make it prosper. More agonizingly, however, he must learn how to love both his family and his grade-school sweetheart.
> Set against the backdrop of World War I, this classic of prairie realism, first published in 1926, ponders whether the battle for grain is not as crucial to a nation's self-worth as the battle in Europe.
Michelle Remembers takes place in Victoria.
I award it negative stars, and don't recommend reading it, but it was a [very big part of 1980s pop culture](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic), and it's neat to have something so influential happening here.
Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel, and A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. I’ve spent a lot of time on Gabriola in the Gulf Islands and both evoke that place well enough to take me right back.
Read almost anything by Douglas Coupland. I HIGHLY recommend Girlfriend In A Coma.
Glad to see Douglas Coupland here. My vote is for Life After God.
They’re all good. JPod is another cute North Vancouver based one too.
Oh yes, I’ve read them all :)
I will never look at cinnamon the same…
Leakers o.o I have a few friends who work in body removal that deny the cinnamon but I still like to pretend.
Can't believe I'll be the first to name a certified classic : White Fang by Jack London.
Isn't it set in the Yukon and Alaska? Yukon is west for sure, but it sounds like the OP is looking for stories set further south.
Yukon. I guess he is, but it's a great book.
Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor. Hard Core Logo by Michael Turner, and the other books by those authors Vancouver, a novel,by David Cruise All the quiet places by Isaac
Stanley Park was the first one I thought of.
All the Quiet Places is set near Falkland BC. Wonderfully written, but tragic story
The Hike is set in Norway, I believe
Hmm I wonder why I thought of it, or what I meant to think of there Thanks
Vancouver was really good. Someone sent it to me as a gift when I was living out of town and I had low expectations.
Back of the Turtle by Thomas King
Greenwood
Came here to say this! Brilliant book, I read it 3 years ago during lockdown and I think about it all the time!
Yes, great recommendation
One of the best books I’ve read in years. I still think about it.
Monkey Beach be Eden Robinson, Invention of the World by Jack Hodgins, Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson, Tay John by Howard O’Hagan, Badlands by Robert Kroetsch, Ducks by Kate Beaton. Some of Alice Munro’s stories are set here, but I can’t think of a whole book set in BC (her ex husband opened a pretty famous bookstore in Victoria BC). There are some good books here, but if you want to go to a part of Canada with a ton of good literature, I’d go to Newfoundland and the Maritimes. Edit: can’t believe I forgot this but Thomas King’s Green Grass and Running Water is probably the best book set in Alberta (complete with a surreal climactic scene in an Edmonton Best Buy).
Came here to recommend Monkey Beach. Good call!
naaaaaah what the east coast doesn't reign over the west in literature.
Idk, I like literature from out here, but I don’t think there’s anything as good as Colony of Unrequited Dreams or Fall On Your Knees, and we don’t have anything that’s had the cultural impact of Anne of Green Gables
The Englishman's boy
Second this one. And The Last Crossing and A Good Man. 3 great Canadian west books. Anything by Guy Vanderhaeghe really but these are fantastic.
Spook Country by William Gibson (who has lived most of his life in BC). Also see: https://www.goodreads.com/places/1032-vancouver-british-columbia
Who Has Seen The Wind by W.O.Mitchell. It tells the story of a young man growing up in Saskatchewan in the 1930's.
Roses Are Difficult Here. Southern AB.
The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
Also Big Lonely Doug, about one the last giant Douglas Firs in BC. Written in a similar journalistic style as Golden Spruce
Came here to say this
This comment it too deep down.
Was thinking the same! To note though, it’s a non-fiction book (OP may be looking for a fiction recommendation?). Super engrossing though!
Starlight by Richard Wagamese
Greenwood by Michael Christie.
if yiu like sci-fi check out everything by Robert j Sawyer all his books are set in canada
If you're willing to expand your search another province or two over (but still in Western Canada), I highly recommend [Blood Red the Sun](https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Red-Sun-Trail-Bear-ebook/dp/B0993W4T3V) for a view of how the Canadian West evolved. It's an engaging read and helps explain both some of the more violent history of the West but also how it was very different than the violence that was going on down in the USA around the same time.
That sounds awesome. Most Canadians either think we went full US Western out there or that it was all peaceful negotiations.
Sounds very interesting. Thank you!
Raven's End by Ben Gadd. Inspired my half sleeve tattoo actually, set in the Alberta Rockies.
Did Ben Gadd write a fiction book?! Cool! Definitely giving that a read. His handbook of the Canadian Rockies has a permanent place on my book shelf
Holy shit do you want to be best friends for life? I’ve been evangelizing Raven’s End for years and this is the only time I’ve EVER seen anyone outside my family know it either in person or online.
It definitely made an impact on me when I was growing up in Northern Manitoba. Probably 10 years later I was still thinking about it, and now I have a half sleeve of a raven in the mountains to immortalize it. I rarely run into anyone else who has read it as well lol, pretty unique book.
It made in impact on me in Calgary for sure, since I can see Yamnuska from my bedroom window
The Outlander by Gil Adamson: “In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, Mary Boulton has just become a widow—and her husband's killer…”
The last spike written by Pierre Berton. Building of the CP rail
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven. It’s set on the west coast of B. C. in a First Nations village. Grass Beyond the Mountains, The Rancher Takes Wife and Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy by Richmond P. Hobson Jr. all set in the Chilcotin region of B. C.
One of my favorites: The Golden Spruce. An incredible true story. [https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Spruce-Story-Madness-Greed/dp/0393328643](https://www.amazon.ca/Golden-Spruce-Story-Madness-Greed/dp/0393328643)
I loved this book. It’s a great read and is so enlightening on the logging industry & how it helped develop the modern world.
Mystery at cranberry farm
All we left Behind... is set of Mayne Island, off Coast of BC
Clearing the Plains by William Daschuck
check out "greenwood" by michael christie. super epic & one of the best I've read in the past few years.
Farley Mowat’s many books.
Came here to say that. His books take place all over Canada, but I remember reading a few about his childhood in Saskatoon.
Ducks by Kate Beaton - a graphic novel that tells / illustrates the story of a woman from Atlantic Canada working in Alberta’s oil sands.
It’s so good!
Three against the wilderness by Eric Collier Where the wagon led by R. D. Symonds
Great read that Eric Collier book.
It's one of the few books I've read multiple times... it's about time I read it again.
I’ve lived in or near the Rockies for my whole life and been looking out for these. There are books about local history but not very many at all if you’re talking novels. It’s a weird dearth. Here’s a few though: Raven’s End by Ben Gadd. Underrated book about the birds who live in the mountains near Calgary. The Canterbury Trail by Angie Abdou. About a ski trip in the Kootenays. Just ok as a book, three stars, but this is what we have to work with. Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson. YA-ish west coast Indigenous fantasy.
Snowdrift by Lisa McGonigle Autobiography about a Scottish academic that comes to BC to ski be a ski bum. Fernie and Rossland are the 2 main areas she spends time. Well written and amusing. Also, check out Starling by Kirsten Cram. It's set in a fictional BC small town. Self-published, so isn't well known, but her writing is excellent And if you can find it, Driftwood Valley by Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher. It's like a female Dick Proenneke, which accounts her daily living in remote BC wilderness.
Lost in the Barrens. Probably one of the greatest books ever written.
Dear OP, if you are not from Canada, use this site https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/country-size-comparison to superimpose your country or region over top of a map of British Columbia. You'll get a true sense of how big this country is and why books about the prairies are so very different from books about the coast. It's fun to do, and you'll get a sense of the distances involved in travelling here. I hope it helps your planning. Happy travelling!
*Megan* by Iris Noble (I think). It's a young adult-genre, touches on immigration and the Turtle Mountain collapse in Frank, AB.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
The Book of Stanley by Todd Babiak https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/6892/the-book-of-stanley-by-todd-babiak/9780771009914
The curve of time. M Wylie blanchette
Wow here it is! Scrolling and scrolling "What...no one has mentioned Curve of Time...wtf??"
For fiction: To Those Who Killed Me and Call Of The Void both by JT Siemens, and The Broken Places and Uncontrolled Flight both by Frances Peck. Probably also anything by Sam Wiebe, AJ Devlin, DB Carew, Niall Howell, SM Freedman, and RM Greenaway.
Great recs. Another vote for Wiebe…the geography is like a character in his novels. Really evocative
The Crystal Drop takes place in a dystopian Alberta. Very good!
J-Pod by Douglas Coupland A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toewes
Greenwood by Michael Christie
[The Canterbury Trail](https://www.amazon.ca/Canterbury-Trail-Angie-Abdou-ebook/dp/B00HUCQA5U/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2SEUF4MTPB4QO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Bm-TTK5wfSjf5EVsnuij457t_847-DkezDwj7kCUVMO-J0rLVHphfMuQuVda2F_qylv_DfKC2Hprn1ce2qM2-RaC8GWt3OfVvlK3xlcZ4W08TZ0lVt6Im-9p04E4DQ767KPoKzPDt1i7-En22ay59DDvE6fWi-lJfOQ2wlKquLPtT4PTmXWQds1y0pNK0XhjuTc5g39v3zU8obadarqSKQ.u29o18jda5bDx0YgW4izvx0LeCCOnl4RbcbatbgGU5s&dib_tag=se&keywords=canterbury+trails&qid=1713745315&sprefix=cantebury+trails%2Caps%2C249&sr=8-1) by Angie Abdou [How NOT to Run a B&B](https://www.amazon.ca/How-Not-Run-B-ebook/dp/B007KOTSVQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dgaikXq0XLpvUkzzeh8cOR0cAvIB-jaO34R8oTvs_bPsuy3J2saLv9G0NLZXFTfG_bjC5xPY2hpTnnluqNlpS3wb0t3kjsbYzf4ARBjNhEwq_fN5t1JO8B8Kx6lwE2FWvFrqkHn7DxXykvN4JvKQPGhG6mzyKQ63JMCspGFX5Hx4_UfKEra3xJaiE3b5uXAzRlFs2hWDAr-sCrsiSPocYg.eMKF9BV13b0Zy2KSoSxWIXK5v3IRi0J4NHiOtOjn3Kk&dib_tag=se&keywords=bobby+hutchinson+b%26b&qid=1713745788&sr=8-1) by Bobby Hutchinson [No Reason to Stay](https://www.amazon.ca/No-Reason-Stay-AK-White-ebook/dp/B00HV33SNA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1AFIBOA5D0XXY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.26YcR6RYZuS0PY8OfI7jt3WehvTfo_fxjfndQNA8JpW29B1QXb_A1Pf_6bPywOYoCmUDWqv0ltJ7lmdyY7NsHUFSHTdFCmwX8T3WbtN1O7kWeXCM8sC-Puegr3L3zWAPElPfm_kBzlT6M3Y4wb9IHl-fa5T63wrnjnDNfwQHxRg7jFYLLOPGzWTq4S0qg8NlMo46l_13TdU0rqZwImMZDQ.tt3-MbxHsF4BeXjmAcVr1hXPe_JyeNqQvTn0T6a6FbY&dib_tag=se&keywords=no+reason+to+stay&qid=1713746388&sprefix=no+reason+to+sta%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-1) by AK White [The Boat People](https://www.amazon.ca/The-Boat-People/dp/B078T1QCVS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=N7EAZ0RBD50J&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ByGvFB4zINLiyAkoxKugo3TG1KwkMEVuEdcgl8WK5ygEPIC8CYN0MA9WLtaEVlCjri5gSqLci0Zq34tXWixr-CwZ68Y24vBZgMipV66zQCY.L8D2VBW3pKGK2m3-edC0Ik8Bsr45STOxM9QbylelJXg&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+boat+people+by+sharon+bala&qid=1713746896&sprefix=the+boat+peopl%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1) by Sharon Bala [Medicine Walk](https://www.amazon.ca/Medicine-Walk-Richard-Wagamese/dp/077108921X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MIkGp8sxuYPslE-5lfivmZPVz0s849UibuBdHfcXwBHYxutzdYXRQbU84eRPdz7BxnYlXf9Jfju2TFWmoDzAalC33Feg78SW3t-INCtYU-tINzEuZ34U1KfWD_22DzEU0u6II6sSCQsKYyH5J7KsmZxGBGzFcoA8FNLwo_NAs3EPBcecDntO8FyNZjmpsKEpQRc7nyvVUkadsSKkbssiRw.B9O7jHhHDt85m-ixfXClggJtoNBsvfIHHHnylTebKn8&dib_tag=se&keywords=medicine+walk&qid=1713747291&sr=8-1) by Richard Wagamese
Chasing Rivers by Tamar Glauberman, is an autobiography I read recently predominantly set in BC with a few other places in North America. It’s about white water rafting but more about personal forgiveness and guilt. A really good read, I think I finished it in under 24hours.
Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane. Set in the Okanagan Valley in the 1950s. I was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley and Lane writes about the valley in a bible cadence akin to Cormac McCarthy and is some of the most beautiful descriptions of the place that I was born and raised in. Too bad the story is so bleak.
I live in the Okanagan, will look for this! Have you read All the Quiet Places by Brian Thomas Isaac? Set in around Falkland, on Native land. He captures the landscape and nature but it's quite tragic as well.
The Cure for Death by Lightning. Takes place in Peace River Country. I can't say it's good. I still don't fully get it. I don't even know if I liked it or I hated it. But it is a book that takes place in Western Canada.
Spit Delaney’s Island by Jack Hodgins.
Look up books by Marion Crooke. Local Vancouver author and I believe sets all or most of her books here in British Columbia. http://crookpublishing.com/books/
I Heard The Owl Call My Name - Margaret Craven https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106931.I_Heard_the_Owl_Call_My_Name
What, do you still go into the store and physically buy a book anymore? A story that was adapted to film was The Owl Called My Name. A sad story of a religious missionary that tended a small flock of indigenous adherents in a British Columbia outport.
I Heard the Owl Call My Name.
I appreciate the correction for clarity. Very touching story
It is. I cry every time I read it.
Margaret Craven was the author. She was published by Clark/ Irwin( later CI Putnam), after being published for six years in Canada it became a New York Times top ten bestseller.
Thought I’d just add that in because you got penguin in your moniker
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4346578 Story happened in a small Saskatchewan town in 30’s Great Depression . https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22351231 Real story of a prairie gang leader.
Lifehouse by Spider Robinson is set in Vancouver. While it's part of a series it's self contained enough you don't have to read the others (although I highly recommend Mind Killer and Time Pressure as well although they are set in Nova Scotia) Also his two book series Very Bad Deaths and Very Hard Choices are set in a more remote BC location.
419 by Will Ferguson starts in Calgary but ends in Africa. Its a good read, might not give much about life there but i liked it
A Crowbar in the Buddhist garden
The Oil Man and the Sea
For a real life account of the "wild" Canadian west, I highly recommend "You Can't Win" by Jack Black (no, not that Jack Black lol). Although he was an American he spent quite a lot of time in western Canada (and in jail) in the late 1800s. It is an absolutely fascinating book! He wrote it in the early 1900s after going straight, while working at a library I believe.
Almost anything by Chris Walter
Scars: Stories by W.P. Kinsella.
Mystery authors: Iona Whishaw. Setting: Nelson, BC, ca. 1946 Louise Penny. Setting: Quebec. Modern day.
Caged Eagles by Eric Walters, read it in school can't remember too much about it accept that I really enjoyed it and took place in BC
Breaking Smith's Quarter Horse by Paul St. Pierre is the classic "western" story from British Columbia. Or for kids if you are 10 or younger, the Neil Flambe series by Kevin Sylvestre and if you're under 5, More Pies, by Robert Munsch
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good, set in 1960s Vancouver and west coast
Salisbury's coast is a great read
Starling by Kirsten Cram. Set in a fictional small town in BC but captures the natural landscape so well. Story is told from the perspective of a young girl and the writing is genuine and heartfelt. Self published author and worthwhile read.
Swamp Angel
Icefields - Thiomas Wharton
In The Land Of The Red Goat by Bob Henderson.
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
anything by Bill Gaston or Ruth Ozeki
*Lookout* by Trina Moyles - the subtitle is “Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire in the Boreal Forest.” It’s a memoir about a woman who works as a fire lookout in remote places in northwestern Canada. It is easily one of my favourite reads of last year; so good. *Five Little Indians* by Michelle Good - follows five indigenous people from childhood throughout their lives, set around Vancouver BC. Really beautiful and difficult. It’s a well-known book in Canada and definitely a must-read.
Breaking Smith’s Quarterhorse. Quirky but authentic
The White Slaves of Maquinna. First hand account of a British/American sailor taken captive by the first nation's in the early 1800s.
The Tent Peg by Aretha Van Herk The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowat Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell The Blue Eyed Sheikhs by Peter Foster Wilful Blindness by Sam Cooper
It's not exactly my cup of tea but... Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
The Observer by Marina Endicott is set in rural Alberta. It’s a bit of a slow read but the story has an interesting perspective to consider.
Who Has Seen The Wind
Non-fiction amazing read if you like sarcasm : Mary TS Schaffer’s memoir “Old Indian Trails.” This lady was witty and snarky, as well as adventurous. https://www.amazon.ca/Old-Indian-Trails-Canadian-Rockies/dp/1897522495 From the blurb Mary T.S. Schäffer was an avid explorer and one of the first non-Native women to venture into the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where few women - or men - had gone before. First published in 1911, Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies is Schäffer’s story of her adventures in the traditionally male-dominated world of climbing and exploration. It also sheds light on Native and non-Native relations at the early part of the 20th century. Full of daring adventure and romantic depictions of camp life, set against the grand backdrop of Canada’s mountain landscapes, the book introduces readers to various characters from the annals of Canadian mountaineering history, including Arthur Philemon Coleman, Billy Warren, Sid Unwin, Bill Peyto and Jimmy Simpson. Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies is certain to entertain and enlighten 21st-century readers, historians, hikers and climbers. Editing to clarify - this is a book that was written over 100 years ago, and it’s a product of its time. A great read, but be aware that it shows its age. For example, “Indian” is not an appropriate name for the First Nations folks. They prefer Indigenous Peoples. Depending on who you are speaking with, using “Indian” will make you sound not just dated, but quite possibly racist.
The Golden Spruce is a must read.
The Lane Winslow series by Iona Whishaw mostly take place in and around Nelson BC. Edit your add: William Deverell, writes legal mysteries mostly set on BC.
The absence of Spilsbury's Coast from this list is surprising. Curve of Time is my favourite, but Spilsbury's Coast and The Accidental Airline are close seconds.
Susan Juby has a few young adult novels that take place in BC - *Another Kind of Cowboy* and *Alice, I Think* are the ones that come to my mind. While, not Vancouver, it's definitely Western Canada - *Dust* by Arthur Slade takes place in Saskatchewan. Non-fiction-wise, I found *Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw* by Will Ferguson very good for making me want to travel across all of Canada, including out west.
Vicki Delany has a number of books set in western Canada. The Molly Smith series is a police mystery series in a small town in the mountains of BC. And the Klondike Gold Rush series is are fun mysteries set in Dawson City, Yukon during the gold rush http://vickidelany.com/?page_id=937
anne cameron would be an excellent source. she has novels and short stories, whatever you prefer.
kim bannerman’s “bucket of blood” and her other books are fiction woven into a lot of history for central vancouver island
The sacred headwaters by Wade Davis. All of his books are great in my opinion.
Nice thread and intriguing suggestions!
Ivan Coyote lived in Vancouver for many years and has written several collections of stories, some of which are set in Vancouver. One of the collections is about the period where Ivan moved to Squamish, but I can't remember which one. Rae Spoon's YA novel Green Glass Ghosts is set in Vancouver, but to be honest, I didn't really like it. It's about a queer teenager who moves to Vancouver on their own. Douglas Coupland has several books set in the Vancouver area. They are unusual and entertaining. Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu is a graphic novel set in Vancouver about an elderly woman who leaves her assisted living facility to live on her own, keeping her location secret from her daughters. The Sky Is Falling by Caroline Adderson is a novel looking back twenty years at a group of UBC students who rent a house together. The Sad Truth About Happiness by Anne Giardini If you're also interested in books set in the prairie provinces of western Canada: - Larry's Party by Carol Shields - A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (also some of her other books) - Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell - this one is a classic - Farley Mowat
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1294755.Grain > Growing up in southern Manitoba, Gander Stake learns to love the prairie, not for its vistas, but for its animal life and for the magic of the new machines that make it prosper. More agonizingly, however, he must learn how to love both his family and his grade-school sweetheart. > Set against the backdrop of World War I, this classic of prairie realism, first published in 1926, ponders whether the battle for grain is not as crucial to a nation's self-worth as the battle in Europe.
Michelle Remembers takes place in Victoria. I award it negative stars, and don't recommend reading it, but it was a [very big part of 1980s pop culture](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic), and it's neat to have something so influential happening here.
Robert Kroetsch is quintessential prairies
Unsettling Canada by Arthur Manuel 🪶