Paul St. Pierre’s witty, honest writing never fails to delight, and nor does his legendary character, Smith. Cowboys, ranchers, Indians, tradesmen — these are the spirited characters for which St. Pierre has become so well known, whose lives he sketches with humour and sympathy, and who people the cattle ranges of Chilcotin country, a spectacularly beautiful pocket of British Columbia with one phone connection to the uncaring outside world.” Accompanying Smith in these finely crafted stories are 01 Antoine, the ancient Chilcotin Indian who confused past and present and everyone else in the process; decent Norah Smith, who would as soon pour a kettle of beans in her husband’s lap as let him act a fool; Frenchie, the would-be cattle baron who had rank horses and a wandering wife; a bank manager who accepted “four queens” as security against a loan to a poker-playing cowboy; and the only hotel manager in Canada ever to be registered as an Aberdeen Angus bull. They are strange, proud, stubborn, surprising people. They ask nothing of the world and that is exactly what they get. And they are unforgettable.