An essay and review of A Garden of Thieves, in BC Booklook Magazine. Many thanks to Editor, Alan Twigg:
The scandal has been mostly forgotten until Unger’s recent efforts to look into the social and criminal aspects of the case. The story goes that de Cosmos and his partners had wanted ownership of Texada Island in order to sell mineral rights. The Tla’amin people of the Salish Nation were victimized in the process.
“Although the book itself is a work of historical fiction,” says Unger, “the process of writing it has been the culmination of my career, and has helped me sort through my own discomfort at what unfolded in our near past.”