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."
In the mid-1800s, Victoria grew from a fur-trading post into a provincial capital—the jewel in British Columbia's golden crown. Meanwhile, many of the early residents, happy to leave the Hudson's Bay Company behind, followed simple trails from the fort or discovered new routes of their own. In her first book, Danda Humphreys introduced readers to some of the people who forged those pioneer pathways. Now she takes us another step back in time to the roads and railways that connected the original city's core to today's suburbs.
From Saanich to Sooke, street names tell stories of intrigue and adventure:
Rowland Avenue, named for the farm labourer with a sinister sideline: hangman for the HBC.
Joan Crescent, where coal baron Robert Dunsmuir's widow once resided in solitary splendour in a castle called Craigdarroch.
Sidney Avenue, close to where the Brethour brothers donated land for the northern terminus of the "Cordwood Express," first train to link the city with the Saanich Peninsula and the islands in the Strait of Georgia.
In this second book in her On the Street Where You Live trilogy, Danda once again combines her passion for the past with a penchant for lively prose to bring you stories about Victoria's pioneers. You know the streets; now meet the people—their lives, their loves and the legends they left behind.