Looking for a book that fits into a backpack for a camping trip? Rachel and Ursula Westfall`s first self-published novella, Estella of Halftree Village, is such a book. At 89 pages, it’s an ideal summer read.
It’s the story of Saska the Sasquatch and Estella, a girl born and raised in the Halftree Village, a settlement where people fled from the violence and poverty of the city.
Estella finds herself caught between cultures when a team of bounty hunters arrives in the village. The villagers are forced to tap into their remarkable resources to keep Saska safe.
The novella is an innocent love story with a mysterious touch, written for young adults.
“We wrote this book in the last winter break,” Rachel Westfall says. “It took us one month to write it.”
Inspired by walks, the Westfalls started bouncing ideas back and forth.
“We switched scenes,” Rachel says about their writing process. “And Ursula has the best ideas, she is the one who is telling me if an idea might work or not,” Rachel says of her 12-year-old daughter.
Rachel’s job entails technical writing and academic reports:
“Writing fiction is fun for me,” she says. “I am not doing it to make money. I enjoy writing as much as I enjoy being in nature.”
Since they published their first book, Rachel says Ursula is writing almost every day.
“We are already writing a second sasquatch tale,” she Rachel.
“I am inspired by the books of Brandon Sanderson,” Ursula says. “I am reading a lot of fantasy novels.”
And in fantasy novels everything is possible.
But the question is: Are there sasquatches out there?
“My mind is open to Sasquatches,” Rachel says. “I grew up in northern B.C. and there were a lot of Sasquatch stories people told us kids. And children, we believed these tales. We went looking for Sasquatch footprints. As a child you convince yourself of stories and your fantasy makes them even bigger.”
Bigfoot, Sasquatch and Yeti, it has many names. There are many tales and Sasquatch sightings from California to the remote region of the Pacific Northwest.
Do they exist? Read the book and you will find out.
On their website www.sasquatchtales.com readers can check out a sample of the Estella of Halftree Village novella.
The book is available at Mac`s Fireweed bookstore, where they will be signing books on July 11, from noon to 1 p.m.
