Restigouche
The Long Run of the Wild River
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Goose Lane Editions
Published:16th Jun '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Winner, New Brunswick Book Award (Non-Fiction)
Longlisted, Miramichi Reader's "The Very Best!" Book Awards (Non-Fiction)
A CBC New Brunswick Book List Selection
An Atlantic Books Today Must-Have New Brunswick Books of 2020 Selection
The Restigouche River flows through the remote border region between the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, its magically transparent waters, soaring forest hillsides, and population of Atlantic salmon creating one of the most storied wild spaces on the continent. In Restigouche, writer Philip Lee follows ancient portage routes into the headwaters of the river, travelling by canoe to explore the extraordinary history of the river and the people of the valley. They include the Mi’gmaq, who have lived in the Restigouche valley for thousands of years; the descendants of French Acadian, Irish, and Scottish settlers; and some of the wealthiest people in the world who for more than a century have used the river as an exclusive wilderness retreat.
The people of the Restigouche have long been both divided and united by a remarkable river that each day continues to assert itself, despite local and global industrial forces that now threaten its natural systems and the survival of the salmon. In the deep pools and rushing waters of the Restigouche, in this place apart in a rapidly changing natural world, Lee finds a story of hope about how to safeguard wild spaces and why doing so is the most urgent question of our time.
"From its geological origins, to the importance of this vast watershed to First Nations and early settlers alike, Philip Lee’s latest book, Restigouche: The Long Run of the Wild River, covers much ground, or more accurately water." -- Martin Silverstone * Atlantic Salmon Journal *
"Restigouche is a paean for the river that flows for 200 kilometres through the remote border region between New Brunswick and Quebec, a river with beautifully transparent waters, forest hillsides and Atlantic salmon, and for the people who have lived beside and from the river for thousands of years." -- Chris Smith * Winnipeg Free Press *
"In Restigouche, Philip Lee offers a rich and immersive travel memoir full of adventure, as well as the history of place and its people, a philosophical and ecological treatise, and a plea, if not a lament, for the natural world and all the living beings that depend on it. One man’s love and exploration of this one river offer the reader a glimpse of what’s possible when we pay due respect and attention to the world’s wild places, not to mention to the people who dwell there, and what calamity awaits when, as happens all too often, greed and decadence get the upper hand." -- Naomi K. Lewis
“Told with a journalist's objectivity and a poet's sensibility, Lee’s Restigouche is an extraordinary work of research and finely-crafted writing that should be revisited and widely shared.” -- Wanda Baxter * Miramichi Reader's “Revisiting Restigouche” *
- Winner of New Brunswick Book Award (Non-Fiction) 2021 (Canada)
- Long-listed for <i>Miramichi Reader</i>'s "The Very Best!" Book Awards (Non-Fiction) 2021 (Canada)
ISBN: 9781773100883
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 19mm
Weight: 414g
272 pages