Winner! 2010 BC Booksellers’ Choice Award in Honour of Bill Duthie
Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life
by Brian Brett
Publisher: Greystone Books
Beginning naked in darkness, Brian Brett moves from the tending of livestock, poultry, orchards, gardens, machinery and fields to the social intricacies of rural communities and, finally, to an encounter with a magnificent deer in the silver moonlight of a magical farm field. Brett understands both tall tales and rigorous science as he explores the small mixed farm — meditating on the perfection of the egg and the nature of soil while also offering a scathing critique of agribusiness and the horror of modern slaughterhouses. Whether discussing the misuses of gates or bantering with neighbours, he remains aware of the miracles of life, birth, and death that confront the rural world every day. Brian Brett is the author of Uproar’s Your Only Music and several books of poetry. His journalism has appeared in major Canadian newspapers including the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the Vancouver Sun. He lives on Salt Spring Island. More