Writers ConferenceWriters ConferenceWine & Cheese Reception
Monday July 19, 7-9pm
Polar Peek Books, 592 2nd Avenue

Polar Peek Books is the official bookstore of the Fernie Writers’ Conference and they are making everyone feel welcome with a wine and cheese reception at the store in Fernie’s historic downtown. Books by instructors will be available this evening and throughout the Conference.

Author and instructor Steven Heighton will be on hand to read from his recent work. His new book Every Lost Country has just been released.

Every Lost Country

About this Book
From one of Canada’s finest writers comes a literary page-turner of the highest order. Inspired by an actual event, Every Lost Country is a gripping novel about heroism, human failings, and what love requires. When is it acceptable to be a bystander, and when do life and loyalty demand more?

Lewis Book, a doctor with a history of embroiling himself in conflicts, and his daughter, Sophie, travel to Nepal to join a climbing expedition. One evening, as Sophie sits on the border between China and Nepal, watching the sun set over the Himalayas, she spots a group of Tibetan refugees fleeing from Chinese soldiers. When shooting starts, Dr. Book rushes toward the ensuing melee, ignoring the objections of Lawson, the expedition leader, who doesn’t want to get involved and spoil his chance to be the first climber to summit Kyatruk. Lawson is further enraged when Amaris, a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker recording the expedition, joins Book with her camcorder in hand. When the surviving Tibetans are captured just short of the border, Lawson and Sophie look on helplessly as Book and Amaris are taken away with them, down the glacier into China. From that point, Lawson continues his ascent, and the fugitives are caught in an explosive and thrilling pursuit that will test their convictions, courage, and endurance.

Navigation

The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason

The Piano Tuner is an enticing book, telling the story of Edgar Drake, the piano tuner of the title, who travels from London to Burma in 1886 to tune the grand piano of a British Surgeon Major stationed in the Shan states. This original premise helps to create the feeling of a fable, reinforced through Mason’s elegant technique.

Drake, who has never travelled abroad, undertakes the long journey by sea and land to reach Burma. On the way he encounters unusual travellers and their stories – it is these diversions that give the book a languorous feel. His arrival in Burma does not occur until well into the book, and his eventual meeting with Major Carroll, the owner of the piano, much later still. Mason spends this time building Drake as a character and the world that surrounds him, layer by layer.

The Polar Peek Book Club meets the last Thursday of the month at 7:30 at the store. Members receive 10% off the "book of the month."