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
Longlisted for the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize
Finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize at the 2008 BC Book Prizes
The colony of British Columbia, 1863. Boston Jim Milroy, a lone trapper and trader with an eidetic memory and a tragic unreckoned past, has become obsessed with reciprocating a seemingly minor kindness from the loquacious Dora Hume, a settler in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island. Dora's kindness and her life story both haunt Boston Jim, and his precise recollections inspire his attempts to buy something suitable for her in return. In The Reckoning of Boston Jim, his search eventually leads him to the gold rush town of Barkerville on the trail of Dora's capricious husband Eugene—the one thing, after all, that she really wants.
Editorial Reviews
Dazzling debut novel . . . Deeply historical but with a strong contemporary approach and solid storytelling, it’s the sort of book that makes other novelists jealous. —Robert J. Wiersema, Vancouver Sun
A complex and evocative exploration of the repayment of ethical debts and the power of human memory in forming personal identity. —Canadian Literature
