My new book, The Secret of Elk Horn Lodge, (Published September 1st, 2021) a women’s fiction family drama, is set on Vancouver Island, the place I called home.

In the book, I tried to be true to the spirit of the land, however, in the name of artistic license I have taken a few liberties with locations on the Island.

Calling the town in the story Skookum is kind of a local inside joke. A historic word of Chinook jargon that is still commonly used on the coast to mean “strong” or “powerful”, it is not actually the name of a town on Vancouver Island, although my town of Skookum bears a strong resemblance to other towns on the rugged west coast. And some of the other names, like The Loggers Hut Restaurant, are imported from other Island towns.

And while Trumpeter swans do winter on the Island, they winter on the east, not the west coast. However, they are beautiful symbols of the Pacific Northwest, and as one of my favourite reasons for living here, I had to include them.

On the other hand, Orcas are found in the waters all around Vancouver Island, and I love going whale watching out of Cowichan Bay with Ocean Ecoventures in their orange zodiacs, crashing over the waves of the Salish Sea searching for these magnificent creatures. I love how the first resident whale sightings in the spring, and particularly the sighting of a new calf, are front page news in the Victoria paper. Unfortunately, too many articles these days chronicle the trouble the orcas are in. Sadly, that part of the book is true.

As is the decimation of our old growth forests. As I write, a protest is heating up in the Fairy Creek Watershed here on the Island to protect one of the last stands of old growth trees on the west coast.

But in spite of these troubles, it is still the most beautiful, inspirational place I’ve ever been. And I plan to stay.

I hope I’ve given you a taste of my Island, and that you will check out my romantic women’s fiction series of Fortune Bay books that might, in reality, be set on Vancouver Island, too. You can get a taste of that series by clicking here to get a copy of the prequel novella, Lake of Dreams, free when you join my Readers Group.

Thank you for reading Tall Trees Books.

You can find The Secret of Elk Horn Lodge HERE.

And soon on online book stores everywhere.

Judith Hudson