A passion for gardening

First released in 1982, Gardening Under the Arch has long been hailed as the gardening bible for the challenging chinook region of southwestern Alberta. Now, for the first time since its original publication, this hugely successful book has been revised and updated into a full-colour edition by some of its original contribut …

The latest addition to TouchWood Editions’ Classics West Collection, Klondike Cattle Drive is the colourful tale of a formidable trek undertaken by legendary Cariboo rancher Norman Lee.

In 1898, Lee set out to drive 200 head of cattle from his home in the Chilcotin area of B.C. to the Klondike goldfields—a distance of 1,500 miles. He was gambli …

The wildest, loveliest and least-travelled region of Alberta was R.M. Patterson’s home territory in the 1930s and ’40s. The Buffalo Head ranch was located in the foothills of the majestic Canadian Rockies. With the mountains as a backdrop, this dude ranch hosted visitors from around the world. Patterson bought it from its founder, a wild Italia …

The stories in Far Pastures take readers to R.M. Patterson’s homestead in the Peace River country of northern Alberta. To all-night dances that ended as the northern lights faded in the dawn. To escapades on the Fort Nelson, Liard and South Nahanni rivers. And to a ranch in southern Alberta where he raised cattle during the lean years of the 1930 …

Illustrated with lush reproductions of Grant and Nixie's art and photographs of their amazing garden, The Romance Continues is a love story, an art-appreciation adventure and a garden tour, all wrapped up in one gorgeous volume. Nationally known artists Grant Leier and Nixie Barton are also husband and wife, parents and the creators of an astonishi …

A wealthy madam who was known from San Francisco to Victoria in the early part of the 20th century, Stella Carroll was glamorous, worldly and determined to succeed. Her bordellos were fashionably decorated and patronized by the affluent and the powerful; she offered the best of everything—fine food and wine, cigars, entertainment and, of course, …

In the early days, Plains Indians travelled on foot across the vast Canadian prairies, with only fierce, wolf-like dogs as companions. Later, with the arrival of Europeans, horses and canoes appeared on the scene. In Rediscovering the Prairies, Norman Henderson, a leading scholar of the world’s great temperate grasslands, revives the earlier mode …

Resting on what was left of the bench was something else, lighter in shade than the background, round, about the size of a cabbage. There were two large holes close together, a smaller pair below, then two rows of wedge-shaped objects. The pattern suddenly coalesced: in atavistic and chilling familiarity …

In a remote British Columbia lake, an an …

Pretensions, conspiracy, lies … all play a part in this riveting book that kicks off TouchWood Editions’ new mystery series featuring Coast Salish investigator Silas Seaweed.

A billionaire’s daughter with an unsavoury past has mysteriously disappeared. Silas Seaweed, a savvy, street-smart investigator based in Victoria, B.C., is put on the ca …

I Love Canadian Beef, indeed. It’s still the best.

Featured here are 125 nutritious and easy-to-prepare Canadian beef recipes for all occasions, including appetizers, salads, grills, soups, stews, casseroles, pastas, stir-fries and, of course, the classic roasts, burgers and prime rib. With recipes for quick meals, light meals, meals for one or t …

Through a selection of her stunning photographs, Alexandra Morton portrays life on the central British Columbia coast.

She arrived in the area in 1984 as a whale researcher, and at first, she was absorbed in studying the orca and admiring the magnificent scenery. It is a coast with a long history: dolphins have pulsed in and out for 10,000 years; Fi …

Babes in the woods. That’s how Ruth and Cliff Kopas were described by one of many colourful characters the pair encountered on their amazing journey across the Rockies through to British Columbia’s west coast in 1933.

Married on the day they left on their dangerous trek, Ruth and Cliff were eager for adventure, and their courageous spirits and …

Art lovers and outdoor enthusiasts alike will be captivated by this stunning, full-colour biography that celebrates and showcases the life and work of an extraordinary man—artist Stewart Marshall.

For much of the past two decades, Stewart Marshall has travelled hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles in a hand-built kayak, living off the land and …

“The Black Barber of Barkerville,” as Wellington Delaney Moses was known, came to British Columbia from San Francisco, looking for a new home and a place of peace. He was among the first black people to arrive in B.C., hoping that the colony, with its Creole governor, James Douglas, would offer a more tolerant and welcoming frontier than had Ca …

A line of nervous young women got off a ship in Victoria Harbour in 1862 and had to walk the gauntlet between two rows of jostling, eager men. One girl, proposed to on the spot, accepted equally quickly and left town with her new husband. Why did these women leave everything behind in England and come to the west coast? The answers lie in the lusty …

Sam McKinney has spent many of the best parts of his life on the water -- sailing a dory along Canada’s west coast, crewing on the deck of a river steamer, shipping out deep-sea in freighters across the Atlantic. In the middle of his life, when he sold the hull of an ocean-going sailboat which had absorbed two years of his love and labour, he loo …

Verity Sweeny Purdy at the age of eleven was sent to England to live with an aunt and train as a classical dancer. This memoir tells of her experience crossing Canada by train, the Atlantic Ocean by ship, and her arrival in England. Her story continues as she tells about her Aunt Doffrie and her bohemian way of life. We learn about her schooling an …

In this fascinating true story, Dyan Grant-Francis describes her life as a “reluctant” psychic, from childhood experiences she tried to ignore, to the gradual acceptance of her unique gifts.

From adventures in the High Arctic to ground- breaking medical research, this remarkable account takes place in a world that lies between science and metap …

Robert (Bob) Jones has had the pleasure of fishing Canada from coast to coast, and around the world. Warped Rods and Squeaky Reels tells of many funny fishing situations that have happened to him or one of his many friends and fishing companions. In Chapter Two, the author talks about his many memories and thoughts of fishing, Chapter Three deals w …

Like other young dreamers, Katie and Maurice Cloughley bought a boat and set off around the world. They met while taking sailing lessons in the west of England and after getting married, they worked for six years in northern Canada, earning the money for their ideal boat. When they found her, they renamed her Nanook of the North, planned for a five …

A Year on the Wild Side is a witty "social and natural history comedy" written by Briony Penn, writer, illustrator and lecturer, with a Ph.D. in geography. It's composed of 52 essays arranged in 12 monthly chapters (ex. in August you'll read about which berries are ripening on the west coast). This engaging book reveals the magic and humour of the …

Grainger had a gentle, humorous talent for describing his friends, his much-loved horses and the simple joys of life in the open air. He regularly escaped from his Vancouver office in the 1920s and 1930s to camp in the North Cascades.

Butter Side Up chronicles the rich lives of Gray and Eleanor Campbell, from a cattle ranch in Alberta to starting Gray's Publishing, the first publishing company in British Columbia.

Seafaring stories in the Horatio Hornblower tradition, Midshipman Kirk, is filled with the rollicking adventures of Midshipman Eric Kirk and the iron screw corvette HMS Calcutta. The Calcutta patrols the Pacific coast in the 1880s and confronts Fenian plots, pirate raids, as well as the hazards of genteel social life in Victoria.