Hard Landings

Living in the Arctic in the early 1960s took courage, strength, ingenuity-and a whole lot of grit.

With candour and insight, BONNIE McGHIE revisits the years she spent in the Canadian Arctic as she transports us back to the newly built town of Inuvik, Northwest Territories, where she and her pilot husband work to establish their charter air service, Arctic Wings.

To grow the business, Bonnie and her young children move to the tiny Inuvialuit community of Tuktoyaktuk, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Along with continuing her work for Arctic Wings, she creates yet another business venture by opening a trading post, supplying trappers and buying furs. Bonnie quickly earns a place as a "trusted outsider" among her Inuit neighbours, whose lives are being increasingly disrupted by the federal government's agenda of enforced and rapid change.

HARD LANDINGS conveys the realities of life and caring for a young family in challenging conditions; it also describes the joy and wonder the author found in relationships, in unexpected experiences, and in the austere beauty of the North. One day, the ever-present risks of bush flying catch up with her and her husband. A hard landing on an isolated island in the Mackenzie River endangers their lives and ultimately threatens the dream they worked so hard to realize.