Reading Local: A Gulf Island Story
Today, Trish Weatherall, Decoda’s Communication Specialist, shares her reading experience.
Look for local books! Reading local books is a great way to learn more about where we live and to support BC authors and publishers. With Commune, I’m reading hyper-local – the author lives ‘just down the road’ from me on Denman Island.
BC’s Gulf Islands have a reputation for a slow-paced lifestyle and as a haven for farmers, homesteaders, artists, writers, musicians and nature lovers. While Commune is a fictional novel, the arrival of young, educated ‘back-to-the-landers’ on the Gulf Islands in the 60s and 70s is real.
Told in present day by the last remaining commune member, in his words: “despite the odds, we were growing our own, living off the land, and evolving, as we saw it, a fresh paradigm for a better way of being on this planet.”
The story spans a few decades of a self-sufficient commune on fictional Conception Island. It follows the collaborative spirit and struggles of the writer, his wife and four others, sharing space, chores, values, and the harsh realities of trying to live off of the land with little experience. I recognize the island challenges of powerful storms, power outages, ferry travel, and elusive fresh water. And I recognize the common island features: a general store, a community hall, a community newspaper, and clashes between ‘newcomers’ and longtime locals.
As activists, the characters engage in civil disobedience protests against logging and are involved in the beginnings of Islands Trust, meant to protect Gulf Island lands, water and culture.
“… this little island we’d already come to love, to think of as home, was going to need some serious defending. It was our first inkling that escape to a simpler lifestyle was really no escape at all.”
Commune is a life story, an activist’s connection to land story, and also, a love story. And a bonus: there are farm dogs in it!
Des Kennedy is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author and environmental activist. He has written five novels, five non-fiction books and a memoir, and was a columnist for The Globe and Mail and CBC television.
Check your local library and bookstore for authors near you and find more BC books below!
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