I have a long list of Recommended Reading at the back of Whale in the Door. I add new titles as I discover them or as others recommend them to me.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

I can’t say enough about this book as I read and reread it. More than a call for ecological restoration, it’s a poetic plea for the restoration of the relationship between plants and people. “We are dreaming,” writes the author, “of a time when the land might give thanks for the people.” Although the book is not specifically about Howe Sound, there are vivid descriptions of west coast forests, the life cycle of salmon, and the complex journey involved in making a basket from red cedar. All of it offered in the most soulful language and told with great humour and wisdom.