Aqua Vitae
A rowdy, rollicking popular history that celebrates the tales of Victoria’s drinking establishments in their heyday.
From the raunchy saloons that lined Victoria’s notorious Johnson street to the lavish high-class hotel-bars like the Driard and the Empress, Aqua Vitae is a collection of fascinating true stories from the days of swinging doors, s …
Waiting for the Cyclone
A Trillium Book Award Finalist
Women are too often cast in literature as inherently good and dependable—but this is not the case in the audacious stories of Waiting for the Cyclone.
Mary, a closet drinker, leaver her children with Debbie, a seemingly perfect housewife who shoots pharmaceuticals at night. Alison vacations with her husband, but wakes …
The Butcher, the Baker, the Wine & Cheese Maker by the Sea
A celebration of British Columbia’s coastal cuisine with recipes and fork-lore from the region’s farmers, artisans, fishers, foragers, and chefs.
The Butcher, the Baker, the Wine and Cheese Maker By the Sea is a tribute to the remarkable innovators and culinary leaders who make up Canada’s west coast food culture.
Discover some of the most dive …
Heart of the Raincoast
Originally published in 1998, this updated edition has a brand-new cover and interior design, with a new foreword by Alexandra Morton.
Billy Proctor was born in 1934 and has spent his entire life in a remote coastal community called Echo Bay, BC on an island off northern Vancouver Island. Proctor has always done the time-honoured work of generations …
In This Together
What is real reconciliation? This collection of essays from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors from across Canada welcomes readers into a timely, healing conversation—one we've longed for but, before now, have had a hard time approaching.
These reflective and personal pieces come from journalists, writers, academics, visual artists, f …
Last Dance in Shediac
A vividly wrought memoir, Last Dance in Shediac is a collection of the author’s personal memories of her mother—celebrated Canadian artist Molly Lamb Bobak—and a tender meditation on life and death.
“I had always assumed that neither of my parents would end up in an old folks’ home. And yet here was Mum, ensconced in a world of pad-covered …
The Butcher, the Baker, the Wine and Cheese Maker by the Sea
Winner of a 2016 Gourmand World Cookbook Award in Canada
Finalist for a 2016 IPPY Award
A celebration of British Columbia’s coastal cuisine with recipes and fork-lore from the region’s farmers, artisans, fishers, foragers, and chefs.
The Butcher, the Baker, the Wine and Cheese Maker by the Sea is a tribute to the remarkable innovators and culinar …
The Carefree Garden
What happens when a lifelong gardener finally realizes that he must collaborate with Mother Nature rather than work against her in order to achieve his dream of creating the perfect garden? In this delightful and thoughtful narrative journey of horticultural discovery, Bill Terry asks how and even why we garden, and to what end?
These are personal …
This Godforsaken Place
The year is 1885 and Abigail Peacock is resisting what seems to be an inevitable future—a sensible career as a teacher and marriage to the earnestly attentive local storeowner.
But then she buys a rifle, and everything changes.
This Godforsaken Place is the absorbing tale of one tenacious woman’s journey set against the dramatic backdrop of the …
High Rider
Winner of a 2016 Independent Publisher Book Award
Born a slave on a rice plantation in South Carolina, John Ware (1845–1905) became one of the most successful independent ranchers in southern Alberta through the sheer force of his will and through his incredible skill at the cowboy trade.
This fascinating historical novel details his adventures, as …
John Rae's Arctic Correspondence, 1844-1855
Although Arctic explorer and Hudson Bay Company surveyor John Rae (1813–1893) travelled and recorded the final uncharted sections of the Northwest Passage, he is best known for his controversial discovery of the fate of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845. Based on evidence given to him by local Inuit, Rae determined that Franklin’s crew had r …
Lonesome
Canada’s most opinionated dog is reunited with her adoring readers in this handsome tenth-anniversary edition of TouchWood Editions’ bestselling title.
It was ten years ago that this charming book first stole the hearts of dog lovers everywhere. Written from the point of view of Lonesome, a lovable dog of great intellect and character, Lonesome …
The Pull of the Moon
Winner of the 2015 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize
A Globe and Mail top 100 pick for 2014
Winner of a 2015 Independent Publisher Book Award Bronze Medal
Twelve short stories that examine what happens in the lives of characters who discover shocking truths about the people they thought they knew best.
Whether set in a cottage or a Montreal market, …
A Family by Any Other Name
Finalist for a Lambda Literary Award for best LGBT Anthology
Winner of a 2015 Silver Independent Publisher Book Award
At no other time in history have lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) relationships and families been more visible or numerous. A Family by Any Other Name recognizes and celebrates this advance by exploring what “family …
The Deerholme Foraging Book
The Deerholme Foraging Book is an exploration of the wild foods found in the Pacific Northwest. It is written by award-winning chef and author Bill Jones and features local mushrooms, edible plants, sea vegetables, and shellfish. The book is the product of twenty years of research and professional cooking with foraged foods. It serves as an introdu …
The Cuckoo's Child
In her forties, Livvy Alvarsson hopes to be a bone marrow donor for her much-loved younger brother, Stephen. Instead, she discovers she has no idea who she is. This is the second great loss she has suffered, for eleven years earlier her four-year-old son, Daniel, disappeared. Armed with a few clues from wartime England, she embarks on a search for …
Flying Time
In 1939, Kay Jeynes, a lively, ambitious young working-class woman, goes to work for the only Japanese businessman in town, the elderly, wealthy, Oxford-educated Mr. Miyashita. Despite differences in their age, race, and class, a friendship develops between them in the peaceful vacuum of Mr. Miyashita’s office. But outside, on the city streets, a …
Vancouver Island Scoundrels, Eccentrics and Originals
Found on the history shelves of the Greater Victoria Public Library, these twenty true stories are brought to life by Stephen Ruttan. They draw a picture of the life of a city with a recent past that's both unconventional and colourful. From Miss Wilson and her famous parrot, Louis, to Jimmy Chicken Island, named after a man who acquired his surnam …
Spirits of the West
The ghost of a scuba diver who still haunts the former British Columbia powerhouse where he met his death. An Alberta theatre where entities have been seen, heard, and even felt so often that it deserves to be called one of the most haunted sites in North America. The spirit of a dapper young man who is willing to share the second floor of a Saskat …
The Land of Heart's Delight
Shortlisted for the 2014 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize
Shortlisted for a 2014 BC Book Prize
Finalist for the Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Historical Writing
Just how, and why, did Vancouver Island get onto the map? How was knowledge of our immediate geography acquired and recorded? With 130 maps, dating between 1593 and 1915, this cartograph …
Harold Mortimer-Lamb
Harold Mortimer-Lamb’s name is in the index of almost every book written on the history of Canadian art, yet his place in that world has never been clear. Photographer, writer, painter, promoter—he was a man of many parts and the ideal patron and friend to some of Canada's most famous artists, including A.Y. Jackson, Emily Carr, and Jack Shadbo …
Harold Mortimer Lamb
Harold Mortimer-Lamb’s name is in the index of almost every book written on the history of Canadian art, yet his place in that world has never been clear. Photographer, writer, painter, promoter—he was a man of many parts and the ideal patron and friend to some of Canada's most famous artists, including A.Y. Jackson, Emily Carr, and Jack Shadbo …
The Cariboo Trail
Agnes C. Laut’s The Cariboo Trail is a fascinating history of the Canadian gold rush that began in 1858. When, in early 1849, a group of ragged miners arrived in the sleepy town of Victoria from California, no one would have believed that a little over ten years later a gold rush would hit the Fraser River.
Between 1859 and 1871, thousands of mine …
Swarm
In a not-so-far-off future of diminished energy reserves and collapsing economies, thirty-seven-year-old Sandy Burch-Bailey lives a difficult existence. She survives by fishing, farming, and beekeeping in a small island community with her partner, Marvin, and their elderly and ill friend, Thompson. As they wait for an overdue supply ship to arrive …
How to Expect What You're Not Expecting
Winner of a 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards Bronze Medal
One size fits all does not apply to pregnancy and childbirth. Each one is different, unique, and comes with its share of pleasure and pain. But how does one prepare for an unexpected loss of a pregnancy or hoped-for baby? In How to Expect What You’re Not Expecting, writers share their …
Beauty by Design
You may never look at a garden in the same way again. Though not a “how-to” book, Beauty By Design is a treasure trove of ideas and enchantment for seasoned gardeners and beginners alike. Eleven inspired artists of the garden share their stories, their secrets, and their passion for gardening. Landscape is the canvas. Foliage, flowers, rocks, w …
Eat Your Heart Out
With unsentimental prose and ironic dialogue, Katie Boland brings to life a variety of characters who all have one thing in common—a need for something more. A literary debut by a refreshing new voice in fiction, the stories in Eat Your Heart Out are about the haunted and heartbroken, about dreamers, losers and love-lost souls. From a sixteen-yea …
The Unfinished Child
Finalist for a 2014 Alberta Literary Award
Shortlisted for the 2014Edmonton Public Library Alberta Readers’ Choice Award
Fans of Kim Edwards' The Memory Keeper's Daughter will love this unforgettable and inspiring tale about the complex bonds of family, friendship, and motherhood.
When Marie MacPherson, a mother of two, finds herself unexpectedly …
Rosina, the Midwife
Finalist for a 2014 Alberta Literary Award
Between 1870 and 1970, 26 million Italians left their homeland and travelled to places like Canada, Australia and the United States, in search of work. Many of them never returned to Italy. Against this historic backdrop comes the story of Rosina, a Calabrian matriarch, who worked as a midwife in an area wh …
South of Elfrida
The nature of relationships is skilfully illuminated in this collection of stories by award-winning author Holley Rubinsky. South of Elfrida delves into the lives of those coming face to face with personal truths that require resilience, humour and the ability to change.
With a clear eye for the complexities of the human heart, Rubinsky’s stories …
Cadillac Couches
Winner of a 2012 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal
Cadillac Couches is a picaresque road trip novel that journeys from prairie to big city and back again. A quixotic tale set in the late nineties and framed by the popular Edmonton Folk Music Festival, it follows two music-smitten twentysomething women as they search for love and purpose. A …
Flavours of the West Coast
The West Coast has an abundance of produce and natural food resources, and some of the most talented and influential chefs in the world. In this colourful cookbook, British Columbia's top restaurateurs, chefs, and foodies share signature dishes that will inspire cooks everywhere. Meet the province's well-known and up-and-coming culinary stars as th …
The Spencer Mansion
Built in 1889 and now home to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Spencer Mansion is a magnificent building with a rich and layered history. With detailed research, historian and author Robert Ratcliffe Taylor describes the original appearance of the house, designed by William Ridgway Wilson for Alexander Green and his family, as well as its i …
Beyond Beauty
Beyond Beauty is the story of a remarkable journey that Bill Terry and his wife, Rosemary, undertook when they joined a party of Dutch and British alpine plant hunters intent on botanizing on the roof of the world. The expedition travelled in a convoy of eight jeeps over roads that were rarely paved and occasionally terrifying. They crossed fifteen …
A Cowherd in Paradise
In 2006, the Prime Minister apologized to the Chinese people for the legislated discrimination created by Canada’s head tax laws in the first half of the twentieth century, acknowledging the far-reaching and long-term consequences it has had on their families. A Cowherd in Paradise is the story of one such family.
The book chronicles the remarkabl …
