A local author's first novel is getting a fair number of positive reviews.

Bonnie Dunlop, who has previously published poetry and short story collections through long-time Saskatchewan publisher, Thistledown Press, released Raft Baby on September 14, 2020.

Raft Baby, the true story about the Peace River orphan of 1872 rescued from a runaway raft and her life that followed, came to Dunlop from a news clipping that her cousin had found in his father's effects.

At first, having never written an entire novel, She put the idea aside but was soon drawn back to it.

"It kept niggling at me, so I thought 'I need to do this', and then I started researching the history of that story."

From there, it was a six-year journey as Dunlop studied not only the structure of novels and how it differed from the short stories and poetry that she had been accustomed to, but also the region where the novel takes place; spending time researching and visiting the Peace River valley of Alberta.

"When I write stories set here in the prairies, I've lived here all my life, so describing that is really easy. But the Peace River country, I had to go learn it. So that was a lovely experience."

That dedication to detail paid dividends, as readers have reached out to her to express their own interest in exploring the region thanks to her novel.

In general, she says the response to her novel has been positive so far, and she is on the virtual promotional tour thanks to COVID-19, with only a small reading scheduled at the Swift Current Chinook library on October 2nd online as well as a Write-Out-Loud virtual launch at a later date.

As far as a reading tour, she has limited it to a couple of events with a dozen people or less.

"That's about all you can do. You can't be having big gatherings or you can't have a book launch with a band and all that fun stuff that you could do before. It has to be small."

The book is available at Bree's Boutique, Pharmasave and directly through Dunlop herself.