In the vein of Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, this novel takes the reader on a wild ride to a community turned upside-down by the social changes of the 1970s. Seen through the eyes of a young man newly fled from his straight-laced Dutch upbringing, the fishing village of Bamfield on Vancouver Island’s pristine west coast is the unlikely meeting place of an uneasy mix of fishermen, the Nuu-chah-nulth whaling clan, hippies, drug peddlers and the scientists and students of the Bamfield Marine Station.
Gaz, a marine biologist, begins to live the laid back life of Lotusland in the 70s, becoming a beachcomber and small-time marijuana grower with his two friends, rich kid Blay and Weeping Salmon People aristocrat, Ben. And not long after, he falls in love with Heidi, a student at the Marine Station.
But things go terribly wrong: greedy Blay brings big-city interests into their casual pot business, Ben is murdered, Heidi’s affections begin to wane and the local police are on to them.
Of Bamfield, Simon Winchester wrote in the New York Times, “[It is] a town so tight-knit . . . [so] full of hidden intrigues and eccentrics . . . [that] with its extraordinary history, [it] seems the perfect subject for a novel. Louis recognized this potential and felt compelled to explore Bamfield’s cauldron of characters in Cedar, Salmon and Weed.
Reviews / Testimonials:
“In this entertaining novel, consummate observer of human behaviour Louis Druehl takes the reader to life at the end of the road. In this often humorous and sometimes sad book filled with natural history vignettes, Druehl reminds us that cedar, salmon, and weed do not necessarily provide salvation from concrete, crowds, and cocktails—or ourselves. An enjoyable and insightful read.”
—Michael S. Foster, Professor Emeritus,
author of Seashore Plants of California and co-author of
The Biology and Ecology of Giant Kelp Forests
“Louis Druehl takes you off to a roaring start as he introduces characters that come alive from the 1970s, then brings them home with the tunes we remember. The graphic description of devastation to rocky shore sea life as oil moved in from a grounded freighter should be read by all those making decisions on oil tanker traffic. The juxtaposition of the muted sounds in a forest, the cacophony of a chainsaw felling a tree, the serenity of a calm sea, and the potential disaster from storm waves all make for compelling reading.”
—Bill Austin, founder of Khoyatan Marine Laboratory
“Bamfield is a British Columbia coastal community with a split personality. There is West Bamfield with its picture-perfect pioneer houses, East Bamfield with its cluster of commercial docks and tourist lodges, and finally end-of-the-road Bamfield, populated by transient students, failed fishermen, gooseneck barnacle pickers, beer-soaked dropouts, and pot farmers with their Bamfield Gold plantations rigged high in the branches of old-growth forests.
“Bamfield resident and marine botanist Louis Druehl captures this untidy, imperfect world in his novel about human flotsam and jetsam stranded on the kelp-strewn beaches, content, like Gaz and his girlfriend Heidi, to live their dreams, to watch sunsets, to be with friends.”
—Pat Carney, Senator (retired) and author of
Trade Secrets: A Memoir and On Island
Editions:
ISBN: 9781926991610 (paperback). $22.95 CAD, $22.95 USD
Pages: 350
Available at Louis’ own website, via your local bookstore, Indigo/Chapters, or Amazon.ca
ISBN: 9781926991627 (ebook). Available via Bookbaby or Amazon Kindle.
Media Related:
You can check out Louis’ own website about this book at www.cedarsalmonandweed.ca
Check out Louis’ other book, Pacific Seaweeds, here.
BC BookWorld article about Louis Druehl and Bamfield, BC can be viewed here.
