CHIWID - by Sage Birchwater, publish in 1995 by New Star Books. Chiwid is a Chilcotin woman, half native and half white, who kept to herself and chose to live entirely outdoors. A crack shot with a rifle, she spent the majority of her life out in the forests, lakes and bush of the West Chilcotin Plateau, "the way the old people lived," moving her solitary camp with the seasons. This animated collection of reminiscences of Chiwid by Chilcotin oldtimers both Native and Non-Native, is an oral history that allows the reader to perhaps get to know this mysterious woman better than any one of the story-tellers. This account suggests why she chose such a life even while it deepens her aura of mystery.

Cover Photo by Veera Bonner