On Island: Life Among the Coast Dwellers by Pat Carney
If you’ve ever dreamed of chucking it all and moving to a sleepy, small Pacific Northwest island (or if you already have) you may appreciate Pat Carney’s charming set of meandering, interconnected short stories set on an unnamed Gulf Island in British Columbia.
Carney passed away last year but lived for many years on Saturna Island, a community of 350 people just south of Point Roberts. Like Saturna and so many islands in the San Juan and Gulf Island archipelagos, Carney’s fictional locale boasts familiar landmarks: a recycling center (or centre; it is in Canada, after all), an elementary school, a pub, a wharf, a community hall.
The mildly quirky characters are familiar, too — the retired professor and his wife, new to island life; the officious church warden; the woman who pumps gas at the marina — but Carney swore all her characters were fictional. Carney avoids treacle and injects a fair amount of wry wit and astute observation to her simple tales, along with some keen appreciation for the natural beauty that abounds along the coast.
In “Cat Dump,” she traces the effect of an “off-islander” releasing a crate of cats at the ferry dock. Each cat finds its way into the hearts and homes of various residents. In “Family Feud,” she tells of two brothers, who marry two sisters, who buy property and build houses right next to one another, overlooking the bay. Over time, one brother is more successful than the other, and the relationship becomes strained.
Some of the stories don’t have much of a point but make for pleasant reads nonetheless. Others pack an emotional punch, like “Burn Pile,” where a resident discovers a secret at the local dump that they wish they didn’t know.
Carney was interviewed by CBC Radio when her book first came out, and said that she was motivated to write it because “a lot of stories about the coast represent us as tweed or tie-dye. We’re stamping along with our canes, or we’re climbing trees in our black stockings to look at eagles’ nests before running for the Green Party, or we’re a hangover from the hippie days. And we’re not. We’re very ordinary, very talented in many cases, people who have a resourcefulness and a huge sense of community.”
Carney had a big heart for her island home, dedicating herself to preserving its lighthouse (and heritage lighthouses across Canada) and chairing the Island Water Commission for many years.
Prior to retirement on Saturna, Carney was the first female business columnist for the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province, who was later elected as a Conservative Canadian member of Parliament and served as Senator through 2008. She is credited with pioneering the development of distance learning in Canada. She also taught at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning and served on the Advisory Councils of the UBC School of Journalism. She passed away in 2023.
This book is perfect for a sunny summer afternoon, when you can dip into a story or two while admiring a coastal view. There are no car chases, graphic sex scenes or action-packed plotlines — just an insider’s view into a slice of island life.
Christine Perkins is executive director of the Whatcom County Library System, wcls.org.
(Originally published in Cascadia Daily News, Sunday, August 25, 2024.)