When Nature Calls

Islands have always had a special place in our minds, hearts and souls. So too have cottages. Add the two together and what do you get? Eric Nicol's wryly funny, sharply observed new book on the joys and terrors of cottage life on Saturna Island, in BC's Strait of Georgia.

Part loopy guidebook, part madcap how-to manual, part fractured history, When Nature Calls tells you everything you've always wanted to know about cottaging, and then some. You'll meet a lively cast of eccentrics that includes a crusty one-eyed boat builder, crotchety neighbours and a renegade parson with a "church" in a boat; encounter the fickleness of Gulf Islands weather, ferries and outhouses; discover exotic local flora and fauna; and experience the indignities of boaters, tourists, guests, government officials and insects - all enriched by Nicol's frequent literary musings, inspired by the likes of Montaigne, Francis Bacon, Lord Chesterfield, Henry David Thoreau and everyone in between.

Whether he's chopping wood, soaking up the splendid solitude or shopping for vegetables in his own backyard Safeway, Nicol cracks wise and wonderful in a deliciously funny escape that may just cause you to look in the classifieds for your own piece of heaven on earth, if you haven't already bought it.