The Winter of the Fisher

Sue Giles was a librarian at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto.

The Winter of the Fisher published in hardback in 1971, is now available in paperback. Now a new generation of readers will have the opportunity to read this beautifully written and grippingly presented story, while older readers will once again enjoy a book that no nature lover can fail to find absorbing.

This is the story of the first year of life of a fisher, a slender and beautifully furred hunter that inhabits the northern parts of North America. It is the story of the struggles for survival against both the unemotional forces of nature and the wiles of the professional hunter. In tracing the development of the fisher from infancy to maturity, the terrors of hunger, forest fire, and hidden traps are set against the beauty of nature, the call of a mate, and the sheer joy of living.

During this year the fisher pits his wits against those of the professional trapper and, but for the timely intervention of the old Ojibway who lives nearby, the outcome of the contest of wills could have been very different. Despite the human intervention necessary to keep the fisher alive, Cameron Langford avoids the trap of over-sentimentalizing the Ojibway’s relationship to the animal and also the trap of anthropomorphism in regard to the fisher’s feelings and reactions. The result is a book that anyone with an interest in wild animals should find exciting, enjoyable, and also educational (especially in regard to the realities of trapping for fur). The book is highly recommended for adult and young adult collections and for the paperback collection racks.