CBC Radio host's book on bestsellers list
Sunshine and shadow found in Desolation Sound
By Isabelle Southcott
Grant Lawrence's new book Adventures in Solitude: What Not To Wear to a Nude Potluck and other stories from Desolation Sound is a colourful mix of local history peppered with stories about the characters who call the Sound home.
Using storytelling skills that he has become known for on CBC Radio, Lawrence pulls readers back in time to the early days of the Coast Salish people and the arrival of Captain George Vancouver.
Although Adventures in Solitude is interwoven with Lawrence's own history of growing up in Desolation Sound, his earnestness will strike a chord with those familiar with the area. They'll find themselves nodding appreciatively as they read "What Not to Wear to a Nude Potluck" and stories about Savary Island and the privileged people with double-barrelled last names who summer there.
He writes about going bush and how the dangers of isolation can slowly drive a person mad.
Adventures in Solitude is both a coming of age story that begins with a knobby kneed boy with thick glasses puking his way up the Sunshine Coast and a love song to the Sound with its wilderness, unique lifestyle and quirky characters. Those characters, like the hermit Russell Letawsky, who became somewhat of a mentor to young Lawrence, and Handy Candy, the American bachelorette, are just as much a part of Desolation Sound as the weather, tides and countless cans of Black Label beer.
"I'm definitely a verbal storyteller becasue of being on radio so long," said Lawrence. "It's been a challenge to get the same impact in print."
Lawrence finds it interesting that people think parts of the book are funny that he didn't, such as vomiting all over everything on the countless drives up the Sunshine Coast. "As a child it was traumatic but when you put art out there you never know how people will react."
It was a "love and loathe" relationship, with the Sound and with the family cabin. "It can be pretty inaccessible and there are times when you just can't go; but it is gorgeous in the summer."
"It's a bipolar place. Desolation and solitude can mean something very different in the summer and in the winter. In the summer it can be bucolic, it can beautiful and serene. In the winter it can be terrifying. This is not a place for the faint of heart."
Lawrence, who is a music critic, borrowed chapter titles for his book from some of his favourite songs. The book's title is a song by the New Pornographers.
Lawrence loves history. "Some people consider history a chore but I find it fascinating. From the history of the Sliammon people to the Swedish immigrants that came here and all the stories from the 20s and how the police would send a man up from Powell River."
"I think people here need to know about the history and to care and I hope this book gives people a reason to care," he says.
In the end it is all about the stories. "Once you lay down your arms you do start meeting these great people and characters and that is what attracts me... it's the stories and how they relate to mine and how they intertwine."
In an interview before his October book launch, Lawrence talks about some of his favourite local haunts. "The (Laughing Oyster) is our local gourmet restaurant in Desolation Sound. We can tie up to the wharf at Okeover and be served gunpowder prawns and fresh local salmon."
Nancy's Bakery and their "amazing" cinnamon buns is another one of Lawrence's favourites.
"Nancy saved Lund in a lot of ways. She gave it that female touch it needed."
Lawrence launched his book to an overflowing house at Nancy's Bakery last month.
"I was able to hold it together in Vancouver (at the launch) but actually got emotional at the beginning of the Desolation Sound launch," Lawrence wrote on his blog. That same day, he learned Adventures had made the Top 10 BC book list and his wife, singer-songwriter Jill Barber launched a new song called "End of the Road" at the Desolation Sound launch.
Those who missed Lawrence in October will be able to see him Friday, November 5 at 7 pm at Breakwater Books when he'll present a talk and slide show about his book.
Lawrence will also be a presenter at the Powell River Writers Conference on April 15 and 16.
