Chris Czajkowski’s new novel, called The River Still Sings: A Wilderness Dweller’s Journey, is at the top of the provincial bestsellers list. She will be visiting the Osoyoos branch of the Okanagan Regional Library during her current book tour next Tuesday evening. She will talk about her unique life, much of it spent living alone in northern B.C. (Photo supplied)
The author of British Columbia’s current top-selling book is coming to Osoyoos next week to talk about her remarkable life – much of if spent living alone in the bush in northern B.C.
Chris Czajkowski recently released her autobiography entitled And The River Still Sings; A Wilderness Dweller’s Journey.
It immediately jumped to the top of the B.C. bestsellers list, where it has remained for the past several weeks.
Czajkowski has penned several other books over the past 20 years, several of them becoming provincial and national bestsellers.
Czajkowski has already started an extensive provincial tour to promote her book. That tour kicked off on September 27 in Williams Lake and will bring her to the Osoyoos branch of the Okanagan Regional Library on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
“All of my other books dealt with specific periods and episodes in my life … this one looks back at my entire life spent in the wilderness,” said Czajkowski, in a phone interview from northern B.C. “This is a review of my entire life and hopefully it encapsulates why I’ve chosen the path to live alone in the wilderness for most of my adult life.”
Many avid readers may be familiar with Czajkowski’s life story, having followed her since the publication of her first book, Cabin at Singing River, published back in 1991.
Since then, she has chronicled her experiences of wilderness living through numerous other books, including Lonesome: Memoirs of a Wilderness Dog, which became the top selling book of her writing career.
And The River Still Sings goes beyond the tales of wilderness living, exploring the experiences that led her to her solitary lifestyle and her recent transition to a life closer to modern society, including stories of her studies in dairy farming and travels to Uganda to teach at a farm school.
In 2012, after many years living alone in the bush, Czajkowski sold her home at the small Nuk Tessli resort she built with her own hands in the Chilcotin area of B.C. 20 years ago, closing a significant chapter in her life.
Her latest book finally shares with readers her life before solitude, what led to her unconventional lifestyle and the new challenges that wilderness living presents as you get older.
While growing up in a small, isolated village of Lincolnshire in England, Czajkowski said she “dreamed of mountains” and that’s why she always wanted to visit and live in Canada, specifically British Columbia.
She applied to attend an agricultural college in B.C. at age 21, but was rejected.
That’s when she decided to “travel the world” and landed a job teaching at a farm school in Uganda.
She taught there for a couple of years, before the travel bug hit again.
“I visited 34 countries and lived in five, including Australia, New Zealand, The Falkland Islands and a couple in South America,” she said. “But I always liked the idea of Canada and wide open spaces and I made it a priority to try and get to Canada and I eventually succeeded.”
She landed in the Chilcotin in October of 1979 and has called it home for the past 35 years.
“I spent my first two years in Canada in Salmon Arm, but I found it way too crowded,” she laughed. “I saw a place on the map west of Williams Lake near Bella Coola that looked just perfect so I went up there and fell in love with it.”
Her father was a furniture maker and very gifted with tools and she “learned through osmosis” how to build things.
She spent her first decade in the bush building cabins. She would sell the cabins and live off the profits.
“I built these cabins by myself using locks, tackle and rope,” she said. “I cut down and shaved all my own lumber. It was tough, but I loved it and became very good at it.”
Living alone in the bush brought the peace, quiet and solitude she was seeking in Canada, but it didn’t always bring happiness, she said.
“I can’t say I was always happy as I suffered from loneliness on occasion and had more than my fair share of financial difficulties as I’ve never made a lot of money,” she said. “But I did love the idea of living in the wilderness on my own and doing as I pleased when I pleased. It’s a hard life and a different life that most seek, but it was the life that I wanted at the time.”
She built the Nuk Tessli resort starting in 1988. It was finally completed in 2011 and she sold it in 2012.
When asked if she ever wanted to marry and have children, Czajkowski said that was never a priority.
“I’m too ornery,” she said. “I’ve always loved the idea that I could literally walk 300 miles and not see a single person. I haven’t done that, but I could where I live. That lifestyle doesn’t appeal to many people. I was never groomed to be a housewife.”
Many would consider her eccentric for living all those years alone, but Czajkowski doesn’t agree.
“I think I’m the sanest person I know,” she said.
She has never regretted fulfilling her dream to visit and live in Canada.
“I think Canada is a wonderful place and I wouldn’t have lived here as long as I have otherwise,” she said. “I have plans to return to England and visit family and perhaps get back to New Zealand, but this is my home and always will be.”
Her presentation at the library on October 21 will begin at 6 p.m.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
