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
The first of three plays in this saga of one of Canada’s wealthiest and most ruthless families, The Dunsmuirs: Alone at the Edge chronicles the disgrace and exile of Robbie Dunsmuir from Scotland, the settlement of his family as indentured labourers to the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Nanaimo coalfields and his application of scab” labour tactics which win him an independent prospector’s licence from the company. His discovery of a vast coal deposit on Vancouver Island, and his scramble to first finance and then gain control over the Wellington Mine on this site, over the literally dead bodies of his friends and supporters, brings this play to a stunning climax. A version of Parts One and Two of this series has been performed annually at the Nanaimo Festival for several years
Contributor Notes
Rod Langley
Rod Langley was born in Australia in 1942 and moved to Canada in his teens. He now lives in Nanaimo, B.C., where he works on film and theatre projects. His plays published by Talonbooks are Bethune (1975), The Dunsmuirs: Alone at the Edge (1991), and The Dunsmuirs: A Promise Kept (1992).
Editorial Review
“The story of the Dunsmuirs is a hell of a tale that's got everything.”
— Victoria Times-Colonist
