Escape: In Search of the Natural Soul of Canada

Our address might be in Toronto, Regina, or Vancouver, but we really live somewhere else, somewhere primordial. This is the premise of Roy MacGregor's beautifully written Escape: In Search of the Natural Soul of Canada, a book about the natural world's place in the Canadian imagination. We escape to a cottage not just to celebrate the daily happy hour or lie on a dock gazing at the constellations, but also to paddle into a stiff breeze on a big lake, or discover evidence that a bear has just passed, or watch a violent summer storm build on the horizon. Sometimes our escapes test us. MacGregor relates a fabulous tale of a quest for his own Holy Grail--here called Ermine Lake--while being attacked by horseflies and deer flies: "no needle noses or stingers for these guys--like winged piranhas, they prefer to chew their food." Mostly, he argues, Canadians escape because, in the words of one old Algonquin park guide, "Nature is God." This great book is itself a great escape. --William Newbigging

Author: Roy MacGregor

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Year: 2003