Will I love Border Songs?

I loved the novel Border Songs because it captured what it’s like to live along the western US-Canada border between Washington and British Columbia.

The dairy farms. The berry fields. The rolling hills. The smell of the sea at the tidal mud flats of Semiahmoo Bay. The Canadian road, Zero Avenue, that runs directly on the line for dozens of miles, with only a ditch to mark the border with the United States.

The book has memorable characters and gets into smuggling and migration across the border, but it leaves the reader with the sense that the local population would… show more.

A mystical love story that crosses borders, I found this a delightful read. The story takes place along a stretch of border between Canada and Northwest Washington State that’s nothing more than a long grassy ditch separating once congenial communities. 

Brandon Vanderkool, a dyslexic, bird-watching artist, brings an unusual perspective to his employment with the Border Patrol. Though surprisingly adept at his job (smugglers and illegals walk right into his arms while he’s owl-watching), it’s his talent for painting and obsession with birds that endeared him to me.

When he crosses paths with his childhood friend, Canadian Madeline Rousseau, and… show more.