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
In an adventure of a lifetime, Jennifer Kingsley and her five companions canoe through one of the planet’s most rugged settings. They battle raging winds, impenetrable sea ice, treacherous rapids, and agonizing sores and blisters while contending with rising tensions among the group. But they also experience the lasting joy of grizzly sightings, icy swims, and the caribou’s summer migration. Woven through this spellbinding narrative are often-harrowing accounts of the journeys of earlier explorers, some of whom never made it back home. Paddlenorth paints an indelible portrait of the spectacular Arctic landscape, rendered with a naturalist’s eye and an artist's sensibility, and offers an eloquent exploration of how wilderness changes us.
Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.
Contributor Notes
Jennifer Kingsley holds a degree in biology and a Master of Fine Arts in Writing and has worked as a guide and naturalist for more than a decade. Her writing and radio stories have been featured nationally and internationally.
Editorial Review
"Kingsley beautifully describes the gorgeous, deadly tundra ...The physical and emotional rawness of the trip is keenly felt in Kingsley's prose, leaving the reader to ponder the incredible toll such a journey would take."Shelf Awareness
"Words often fail when it comes to describing the grandeur of the Canadian Arctic, but Ottawa-based writer Kingsley succeeds beautifully in her ruminative memoir about a 54-day rowing trip through Nunavut that featured caribou, grizzlies, and treacherous rapids."Backpacker
"A page-turner of an adventure in the Far North, at turns bone-chilling, mind-blowing, and exultant. I like sitting in my easy chair reading about Jennifer Kingsley's explorations in the wilds left in the world. This is travel-writing at its best.” - Janisse Ray, author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
"Kingsley goes in search of a place where she feels 'both small and strong,' and comes back with a fast-paced story of risk, reward and raw emotion. For fans of adventure literature, here is a wilder Wild."- J.B. Mackinnon, author of The Once and Future World and Plenty
"A perilous journey through an unforgiving landscape. A wild adventure that sweeps you up in its wake. Jennifer Kingsley is a wicked paddler and a beautiful writer.” Andrew Westoll, author of The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary
"In the tradition of great exploration literature, Jennifer Kingsley examines both the wilderness she paddles through and the wilderness within. An engrossing story that illuminates the north and the nature of friendship.”Don Gillmor, author of Mount Pleasant
"A very personal tour of the beauty as well as the physical, emotional, social and spiritual challenges of arctic "tripping." There's a lot to like in this book--and a lot to be learned. If you're dreaming of mounting your own arctic river expedition, you'll be taking notes."Jo Deurbrouck, author of Anything Worth Doing: A True Story of Adventure, Friendship and Tragedy on the Last of the West's Great Rivers
The book is an emotional read, a sense of longing or yearning running throughout. Kingsley is a fine and vulnerable writer”Literary Review of Canada
