About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
Feisty icon; passionate Canadian; unrelenting foe of all pretension; energetic provocateur-at-large and most importantly, superb and dedicated writer, there cannot be a Canadian alive who is unaware of the legacy that is Farley Mowat. And No Bird Sang and A Whale for the Killing are the first books in a new Douglas & McIntyre library of handsomely redesigned paperback editions of Farley Mowat's work.
When an 80-ton Fin Whale became trapped in a lagoon near his Newfoundland home, Farley Mowat rejoiced: here was a unique chance to observe one of the world's most magnificent creatures up close. But some of his neighbours saw a different opportunity altogether: in a prolonged fit of violence, they blasted the whale with rifle fire, and scarred its back with motorboat propellers. Mowat appealed desperately to the police, to marine biologists, finally to the Canadian press. But it was too late. Mowat's poignant and compelling story is an eloquent argument for the end of the whale hunt, and the rediscovery of the empathy that makes us human.
Editorial Reviews
"I admit, sheepishly, that I have never read any of Farley Mowat's novels. Until last week, that is, when I gobbled up two of his books, republished by Douglas & McIntyre: A Whale for the Killing and And No Birds Sang...I now understand the regard for Mowat's superb story-telling and dramatic prose...Luckily D&M has rescued Mowat's library...and we can newly appreciate him. Or introduce him to our children."
— Toronto Star
"Farley Mowat is a North American icon on a par with Matthiessen and Muir. He has brought the wilderness and its inhabitants into the lives of millions, awakening readers to issues and relationships that many never knew existed. For so many of us who hold the wild world dear, it was Mowat who gave us our first and lasting taste of its power, mystery and increasing vulnerability. A Whale for the Killing is a classic -- Mowat at his best."
— John Vaillant, author of The Tiger
"Mowat's books have...defined the Canadian wilderness for readers all over the world -- the landscape, the isolation, the weather, animal and native life -- with a heightened sense of reality no other writer has achieved over the last six decades."
— Toronto Star
