A peek into the lives of the early settlers of the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

Another unlikely participant in the Boer War was James Jones, a prospector who worked claims on the west coast of Vancouver Island until he, along with twenty-five men from Victoria, made the journey to South Africa to fight for the British. James’s story is a small part in Voices from the Sound: Chronicles of Clayoquot Sound and Tofino 1899–1929 by Margaret Horsfield (Salal Books), an exhaustive account of the history of the area, gleaned in large part from priests’ diaries and letters sent to Walter Dawley, the main shopkeeper in the area and the one person with whom almost everyone had to communicate. This beautifully designed book covers all aspects of life during the period: birth, death, marriage, disease, residential schools, rivalries between shopkeepers, the business of sealing and the business of saving souls, and its anecdotal style and numerous photos and reproductions of documents welcome the reader into the interesting lives of these early settlers.