In 1926 or 1927, Lillian Alling, the subject of a Vancouver Opera production, began an epic journey on foot from New York to Siberia. She made it to B.C. and was jailed for her own safety in Oakalla Prison Farm in Burnaby because authorities feared she would die if she continued her trek through the winter. In the spring she walked north and was last spotted in Alaska. Quesnel historian Susan Smith-Josephy (SFU BA'88) has written a non-fiction account of Alling's life called Lillian Alling: Walking Home (Caitlin Press 2011).

[by Christine Hearn, AQ Magazine, 2011)