Following the Curve of Time: The Legendary M. Wylie Blanchet

by Cathy Converse

Who was this skipper, this mother, this writer? These questions motivated Cathy Converse to re-trace the route of famous pacific seafarer M. Wylie Capi Blanchet, and write a biography in the process. Widowed in 1926, Blanchet cruised the coast with her five children and their dog in a 25-foot boat that had been rescued from the seafloor. The Curve of Time , Blanchet's resulting book, remains a bestseller and a classic in the annals of nautical literature, but little is known about the rest of her life. Converse offers insiders' recollections of this enigmatic woman, along with updated information about the villages, inlets and islands described in Curve , making Following the Curve of Time essential reading for anyone who has ever been captivated by the West Coast or Capi herself.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Travel, Canada, History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Cathy Converse is a bestselling author with multiple books featured on the BC Bestseller List. With over forty years of writing experience, she has authored, co-authored, and co-edited seven books, in addition to writing numerous magazine cover stories, academic journal articles, and technical manuals. Her fourth book, Following the Curve of Time: The Legendary M. Wylie Blanchet, was a finalist for the 2009 BC Book Prizes' Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award. Her work Against the Current received an Honourable Mention for the Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Historical Writing.

A former chair of social sciences, Cathy was a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Camosun College and helped establish the women’s studies curriculum and programs. She is also recognized in Canadian Who's Who for her contributions to historical biography.

Originally from the sunny shores of California and Hawai'i, Cathy has spent her adult life along British Columbia’s rugged coastline. A lover of the sea, she enjoys surfing, white-water kayaking, canoeing, and sailing, having explored the Pacific from Panama to Alaska.

Reviews

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who has read and loved M. Wylie Blanchet's The Curve of Time will definitely want to read this little biography. I'm lucky it came out so soon after I read The Curve of Time! Thank you, Cathy Converse. This is truly a labor of love requiring much research and effort.

This bio answers all the questions you had about "Capi" Blanchet that she didn't answer in her own book. It tells about her early life of privilege, which is an interesting contrast to the austere life she chose to lead in British Columbia. It gives the details of her husband's death, explains more about the places the family visited on the boat, the history of the area and how it has changed in modern times, and tells "what happened after," including what the children did after they grew up.

One of the things I really wished for when reading The Curve of Time was photos. This bio is full of photos, many taken by Capi Blanchet herself during those summers on the Caprice with her children.

[Therese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this companion book to The Curve of Time. Converse presents the inimitable "Capi" Blanchet as a complex character, full of intense love for her children and her boat, but cranky and temperamental, too. Capi's story invites comparison to the beautiful but sometimes unpredictable and eddying waters of coastal British Columbia on which she floated. Excellent photos, both from Capi's time and ours, accompany this clear, fast-moving biography.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly enjoyable read for anyone who appreciates adventure, travel off the beaten path, wilderness settings, and strong-minded individuals. This book chronicles the life of Muriel "Capi" Blanchet who wrote The Curve of Time, a chronicle of her boating adventures along the southwest coast of British Columbia as a single mother with young children during the first few decades of the twentieth century.

Following the Curve of Time builds upon Capi’s story, revealing her journey from wealth and privilege in Eastern Canada to a self-chosen life of rustic abodes on Vancouver Island and along the coast of British Columbia. I enjoyed learning about Capi herself, hamlets she visited along the coast, First Nations culture, and the many challenges of navigating British Columbia's coastal waters, told through first and second hand accounts of her character, and a smattering of old photographs. The settings are richly described and atmospheric — enjoyable armchair travel while being informative.

You don't need to have read Blanchet's book The Curve of Time to appreciate Following The Curve of Time, but it's well-worth reading the former to gain the full picture of Capi Blanchet's life and west coast adventures.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A biography about "Capi" Blanchet--captain of the Caprice, adventurer, mother and unique individual. Well written and researched by an author who explored the inside passage waterways of British Columbi by boat. Capi and her children overcame the challenges of having spent the whole summer cruising aboard a 25 foot motor boat with 1 adult, 5 children and a dog. Capi and her children returned to go cruising every summer for 12 years.

[Kathleen (itpdx) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a companion book to The Curve of Time: The Classic Memoir of a Woman and Her Children Who Explored the Coastal Waters of the Pacific Northwest by M. Wylie Blanchet. Converse gives Capi Blanchet’s family background, information about her husband, fills us in on what has happened to the places and people described in Blanchet’s book, and tells us what happened after Capi stopped her summer cruises. The books answers the questions for us but is not all that well written.

[Elaine Goddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I was going to read The Curve Of Time, but accidentally got this biography about the author. As a native NWesterner, and having spent many childhood vacations on the BC inner passage between Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, I greatly enjoyed following her adventures. This woman was smart, independent, and an amazing mother. This biography was part travelogue, part history and part adventure. It also contains some technical navigation tips for anyone considering a boat journey up the inside passage. I now REALLY wish to read the book I set out to read in the first place.

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read "the Curve of Time", I was very interested to read this biography of M. Wylie Blanchet. Capi was an amazing woman with courage, still and talent. The photographs included in the book flesh out the text and it is great to see pictures of Capi and her family as they sailed the coastal waters of British Columbia.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of Capi Blanchet, who wrote about her travels up and down the BC coast with her 5 children in The Curve of Time. She had an interesting life. Recommended if you've read her book and are curious about what her life was like and what happened to her children. The author also goes into detail about some places she visited.

[Josh Gering · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose I did this backwards by reading her biography before reading her books. Capi Blanchett is a fascinating person whose life was certainly lived to the fullest. She took on the huge challenges of life on a boat with 5 children, and herself a very singular captain.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wistful read of an adventure that could probably not be repeated in this day and age. A must read for those who travel the northern waters off Vancouver island and beyond, including the beloved Princess Louisa inlet.

[Mallee Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a biography about M. Wylie Blanchet beginning with her family roots in Quebec and ending with the lives of her children. This biography will only be meaningful if you've read her B.C. classic, The Curve of Time.

[david campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally, I was hoping to find and download The Curve of Time , but it was not available at the time. I thought I was settling for this. Am so glad to have read this first and I do recommend …very thought provoking and endearing. Makes you long for summers in the inside passage!

[Vontel]

Read the original The Curve of Time many years ago & own a copy. Think I read Converse's book a while ago.

[Vix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended for anyone that has read The Curve of Time

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've read The Curve of Time, this is fun to read. A chance to learn more about this family, their background, and what happened after the many, long summers cruising the BC coast.

[Rene' · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect follow up to the Curve of Time. Gives so much background to fill in missing information from the first book, The Curve of Time.

[Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not nearly as good as M. Wylie Blanchet's original book The Curve of Time, but in filling out a little more detail of its subject and its author, it reminds you of those original pleasures.

Capi Blanchet was a reticent woman; most of what we have of her directly is in her book. So the biography here concentrates on her original family in Quebec, and her own family consisting of the five children who accompanied her on the voyages of the Caprice. The heart of this book is devoted to retracing those trips, with updated descriptions and correct native names for places. In many cases, the site has been abandoned to decay and decades grown over; in others, it's been developed and now sees more boat traffic in a day than it did in a year in Capi's time. In neither case is the news pleasant, or unsurprising.

The boating sections veer closer and closer to a cruising guide, which is only to be expected since that's Converse's experience and the origin of her interest in Blanchet. But it's clearly written and nicely produced, with many photos and almost enough maps. If it doesn't succeed in reviving the Caprice or rendering more vivid Blanchet's picture of the BC coast, it comes as close as any book likely ever will.

[Ivy Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book for unraveling some of the mystery surrounding M. Wylie Blanchet (aka Capi), but it just wasn't as good as the original Curve of Time (COT). Perhaps it is what you don't know about Capi that makes the original so great. I also thought after having just read COT, that this book repeated phrases from the original a little too much. I guess I felt after finishing COT recently that I wanted new information, not to have the old information repeated.It seems like this book would be most appreciated by someone who had not read COT, but just wanted to learn about Capi.

In the foreword to the book, the author talks about how this book is part travelogue part biography of Capi, yet I never really felt as though I was travelling in the author's shoes. She would describe how an area that Capi had traveled to had changed over time, but her descriptions seemed very analytic and detached as if she was describing them from a research perspective and not from the perspective of someone who had been there and enjoyed the experience.

[Rachelfm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this to accompany the book The Curve of Time, which is the choice this summer for my book group. Since that book hasn't come in at SPL, it's hard for me to yet gauge the quality of the backstory. I do feel that it added a dimension that will help me appreciate Blanchet's book when it comes in.

[Sally Munn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read because it was a book club read. I found it slow and not as indepth as I thought it would be

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Poorly written with very little original insight or information.