Doris Ray is a retired home support worker who resides with her husband in the Fraser Lake-Endako area of North Central British Columbia. Doris's first book The Ghosts Behind Him (Caitlin Press 1999) chronicling her family's devastating experiences with her son Bruce's schizophrenia, was the recipient of a BC2000 Book award. Over the years she has self-published volumes of poetry and short fiction. In 1998 Doris received a phone call relaying some previously unknown and intriguing information concerning her mother's family history. The book Common Threads is based upon bits and pieces of archival data and personal reminiscences, which have been strung together with a whole lot of conjecture on the part of the author.