The Journal of Etienne Mercier (Orca, $28.95) is the imaginative creation of David Bourchard. In this fabricated diary Etienne, a Hudson's Bay man, and former voyageur, trapper and coureur de bois, is sent in 1853 to record the life of the Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands. In fractured English, he describes the Winter Dance ceremony, a potlach and an encounter with a Haida raiding party. Detailed paintings are by Gordon Miller, whose work hangs in the National Museum of Canada and the Vancouver Maritime Museum. A companion CD records the author reading the story and singing Etienne's Franglais paddling songs. 1-55143-128-9

[BCBW WINTER 1998] "QCI"