he Curve of Time is Muriel Wylie Blanchet’s remarkable account of summers spent exploring the rugged coastal waters of British Columbia with her five children.

Beginning in the late 1920s and continuing through the 1930s, Blanchet navigates the islands, channels, inlets, and fjords of the Pacific Northwest aboard a small motor launch. As skipper, navigator, engineer, and mother, she leads her family through a world of changing tides, fog, storms, reefs, wildlife, remote settlements, and breathtaking wilderness.

Blanchet’s memoir combines adventure, family life, natural history, and a deep appreciation for the coastal landscape. Her observations of the sea, forests, islands, wildlife, and people she encounters create an intimate portrait of British Columbia’s coast during an earlier era.

First published in 1961, The Curve of Time became a celebrated classic of British Columbia literature and travel writing. It remains an engaging memoir of independence, motherhood, exploration, courage, and the enduring beauty of the natural world.