Set in the 1970s fishing village of Bamfield on Vancouver Island, Cedar, Salmon and Weed follows a young marine biologist who leaves a strict upbringing and becomes absorbed in a volatile coastal community. Fishermen, Nuu-chah-nulth families, students at the marine station, and transient counterculture figures collide in a changing social landscape.
Gaz, once a professional scientist, drifts into a simpler, riskier life with two friends — a privileged associate and a Nuu-chah-nulth companion. Romance, ambition and small-scale crime entangle the trio: outside money arrives, loyalties shift, and a murder forces the community to reckon with its limits and alliances.
The novel blends coastal atmosphere, cultural encounter, and a creeping criminal subplot to examine belonging, identity, and the costs of change. Readers who appreciate character-driven regional fiction with moral ambiguity and a strong sense of place will find this an absorbing portrait of a town in transition.
- Rich West Coast setting and marine-station backdrop
- Themes: community, cultural contact, counterculture, crime
- Character-focused, atmospheric storytelling
