The Cougar Lady

Every town has its celebrities, but Sechelt's own unique and larger-than-life personality is wholesome enough to satisfy all of North America's appetite for eccentrics. Asta Bergliot Solberg, or "Bergie," as her friends knew her, lived life on her own terms. She climbed wild mountain trails to hunt for goats, demanded car rides from unsuspecting locals, spent a night in the woods wrapped in the skin of a bear she'd shot and thought nothing of rowing twenty-five miles down a dark, windyinlet. With equal ferocity she wrangled cougars, conservation officers and the police, who arrested her for packing a rifle in town. In this long-awaited memoir, Rosella Leslie pieces together Bergie's life story through a collection of interviews, local stories and personal anecdotes. THE COUGAR LADY: LEGENDARY TRAPPER OF THE SECHELT INLET follows Bergie's life journey, one lived with ferocity and insurmountable fearlessness. Asta Solberg is a true icon of the Sunshine Coast, embodying the irreplaceable and unmistakable vibrancy of Sechelt itself.

Rosella Leslie Rosella Leslie has been writing since she was old enough to put thoughts on paper. She has published three novels: THE GOAT LADY'S DAUGHTER (NeWest Press, 2006), DRIFT CHILD (NeWest Press, 2010) and THE FEDEROV LEGACY (Caitlin Press, 2013). Her non-fiction work includes THE SUNSHINE COAST: A PLACE TO BE (Heritage House, 2001), and she co-authored BRIGHT SEAS, PIONEER SPIRITS: A HISTORY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST (Touchwood Editions,1996, 2009), SEA-SILVER: INSIDE BRITISH COLUMBIA'S SALMON-FARMING INDUSTRY (Horsdal & Schubart, 1996) and a BC Book Prize winner, A STAIN UPON THE SEA: WEST COAST SALMON FARMING (Harbour Publishing, 2004). Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including WESTERN PEOPLE magazine and the LEADER.