Blog folks, you’re in for a treat today. I do these authors chats for pleasure, to connect readers with amazing writers and their work. It’s a particular joy meeting other Canadian authors who are out there doing their thing. (Say it with me! We are small but mighty!🇨🇦📚😂)
I’m thrilled to have Lisa Brideau on the blog today, talking about her suspenseful and thought-provoking debut, ADRIFT. I had the honour of reading an ARC and quickly fell into the intrigue of this climate change book set in the not-too-distant future and the protagonist, Ess, who wakes on a boat without her memory. I had to put it down a couple of time, but in the best way, after the summer we’ve had with fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and flooding. It was hitting close to home, and that’s exactly what I want from a great novel, to leave an impression and make me think. ADRIFT does just that. I hope after you read our Q&A you’ll grab a copy asap!
A huge thanks to Lisa for taking the time to drop by and share about her wonderful debut. Enjoy!
A ❤️📚
1. The book is set in the not-too-distant future, in a time of economic and environmental collapse, making it very timely. What made you want to write a climate change book?
I grew up on sci-fi and love speculative fiction, love it as a way to explore aspects of society and culture that we take for granted, so I started off just wanting to write a book set in the near future because that’s where juicy interesting stories live for me. But the question of what kind of future we’re building for ourselves is so wrapped up in climate change that it had to be a climate change book. All speculative fiction set in the future has to grapple one way or another with how we weather this crisis.
The other answer is that I work professionally on climate change policy and it’s so, so challenging to get people to engage on it because the topic can be overwhelming and depressing. Climate grief and anxiety are real. I had this notion that an entertaining, thoughtful suspense novel with climate change realities and possibilities baked in might be a way to bring people into the conversation. My hope is that people read Adrift and are entertained but also come away inspired to get involved in their communities shifting off fossil fuels, supporting adaptation measures.
Come for the fun, stay for a realistic portrayal of climate change impacts, be inspired to take action when you finish!
2. There’s a lot of boating and sailing details in the book. Are you a boater yourself or was this all research?
I am not a boater or a sailor! I spent five days on a sailboat on a learn-to-sail course long ago, and that made an impression for sure, but I haven’t had any opportunities to get out on the water since. So, lots of research and helpful feedback from amazing women I know who have sailed solo in the same waters as my character. I am a chronic over-researcher. Ask me how many books I read on amnesia and identity.
3. I love a good amnesia plot. How did this story come to you?
Amnesia plots can be so interesting! We were on a week-long kayaking trip in Haida Gwaii’s National Park Preserve and Haida Heritage Site, Gwaii Haanas, and we kept seeing this sailboat traveling the same waters as us. I imagined that if you woke up one day on that boat in that remote place and you had no memory, you would have no way of knowing what year it was. Gwaii Haanas felt like a place out of time. Something about that idea, that opening scene stuck with me and I built an entire story around it. I had great fun digging into questions around what’s left if all your memories of your experiences have been taken away. What makes us who we are? (I also wanted to go against typical amnesia tropes, tell a different story, but I can’t say more about that because: spoilers.)
4. This book made me miss the west coast with an ache in my heart. (We dream about moving to the PNW someday.) I got the sense you were an outdoorsy person from your descriptions of the landscape. Were you capturing and paying homage to some of your favourite places, e.g. Haida Gwaii? (I’ve always wanted to travel there, especially after reading “The Golden Spruce.”)
I’ve come to appreciate the outdoors very late in life, actually. I didn’t get a lot of exposure to hiking or nature as a kid and I have a pretty severe bug phobia. As a kid I preferred pavement to grass. But since moving to British Columbia, friends have introduced me to amazing hiking camping and kayak camping experiences that make encountering bugs worth it. And as we dig into the root causes of climate change, it’s easy to see that our disconnect from nature is a key part, the way we view the ecosystems that sustain us as just resources to be extracted. So, giving nature a presence on the page felt really important to this story.
And yes, Haida Gwaii is amazing. Everyone should go (not all at once). The incredibly rich ecosystems there make you realize what these places around us once were, what they should really be. That was really impactful for me, to realize how degraded most of our natural spaces have become. Also – the experience of kayaking around for a week, seeing dolphins and bears instead of other people, pulling up on beaches and pitching a tent in the forest was unlike anything I’d ever done and I wanted to try to capture a bit of that.
I love my city life (transit! bubble tea!), but I try to balance it with visiting special places like this.
5. I love the cultural elements to the story. What made you want to include that?
It felt necessary for the Haida Gwaii portion of the story – to recognize the Haida Nation and Haida people who live there and steward the lands. I wanted to reflect the current stewardship systems they’ve worked hard to establish (the Watchmen program is real and a model now being replicated elsewhere). I wanted to imagine a future where the communities were doing well, had prepared for climate change, a future where Haida culture and language thrive. I was lucky to be connected with a Haida Nation member who I contracted to review that part of the manuscript draft and she offered suggestions on language and character to enrich the story.
Also – it’s a projection of current efforts. Indigenous communities are big change agents leading the shift to renewable energy. Haida Nation is working to be 100% renewable by 2030, well before the 2038 setting of Adrift and they’re making progress, so I took the easy path and just depicted the future they’re aiming for.
6. What’s next for you?
Continue working on climate change policy and climate justice during the day and writing on weekends. Hopefully, I’ll get to have a second book on the shelf next to Adrift one day. Also, putting it out there that I’ve joined a few book club meetings to chat about Adrift and LOVE doing that, so if anyone has a book club and wants to read Adrift and have me at the meeting (via zoom or if in Vancouver in person), send me a note!
Where to find me:
http://www.lisabrideau.com
Bsky: @LisaBrideau
Instagram: @BookBrideau
TikTok: @LisaBrideauAuthor
LISA BRIDEAU was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada in the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaw People. She has a Bachelor degree in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University and a Master of Science in Urban Planning from the University of British Columbia. She currently works as a sustainability specialist focused on climate policy and climate justice. She lives in Vancouver, BC (the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples). ADRIFT is Lisa’s first novel.
Anita Kushwaha, Author 
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