Honoured to have contributed a chapter to Métis Matriarchs: Agents of Transition, released by University of Regina Press in September. My chapter studies the life of Josette Lagacé Work, the matriarch featured in my historical novels. The wife of HBC Chief Factor John Work, she ensured the survival of her large family and community through the transition from fur trade to farming amid British Columbia’s turbulent gold rushes and beyond. I’m grateful for her descendants who have supported my writing, in particular Peter Lampman, who sadly passed away last year. I know his daughter Christine will read it for both of them.