• Age: 13
• Grade: 8

Here are the stories of singularly courageous West Coast women—driven, obsessed, sometimes desperate people whose nonconformist beliefs and actions made them rebels in society’s eyes. Many faced hardship and ridicule as they pursued their goals. In these vivid biographies, Rich Mole chronicles the lives of some of the most celebrated and controversial women in BC, Washington and Oregon, including:

• pioneer Catherine Schubert, who faced danger and starvation on her heroic journey west;
• ballot-box rebel Abigail Scott Duniway, who endured poverty and scathing criticism during her fight for women’s suffrage;
• Irene “Bonnie” Baird, who disguised herself as a nurse to write an exposé of their ordeals of Depression-era protesters;
• complex and contradictory doctor Bethenia Owens-Adair, who broke gender barriers yet is also remembered for a more tragic legacy.

By demanding equality and respect in lecture halls, shipyards, government assemblies and operating theatres, these women helped shape the society we live in today.

British Columbia-born author Rich Mole has enjoyed an eclectic communications career, as a former broadcaster, a freelance journalist, and, for 20 years, the president of a successful Vancouver Island advertising agency. A lifelong fascination with history has fuelled his desire to write about the times and people of Canada's past. Rich now makes his home in Calgary, Alberta.

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Highly readable stories —Dave Obee, the Times Colonist

Rebel Women of the West Coast: Their Triumphs, Tragedies and Lasting Legacies