Rescue in the Rockies
Coteau Books / 17 July 2019

Rescue in the Rockiesby Rita FeutlPublished by Coteau Books (UPDATE JULY 2021: Rescue in the Rockies has been re-released by NeWest Press)Review by Shelley A. Leedahl$12.95 ISBN 9-781550-509489 I’m both surprised and saddened that until reading A Rescue in the Rockies, I was unfamiliar with Edmonton writer Rita Feutl’s titles for children and young adults. Surprised, because this is a writer at the top of her game, and saddened, because had I known how good she is, I would’ve been recommending her books long before now. Her latest book – a fast-paced Banff-set novel which sees its 14-year-old heroine through several historical time travel adventures with Stoney Nakoda characters (and detainees in a WW2 internment camp ) – was gripping, credible, well-researched, political (espousing Canadian First Nations’ history and human trafficking in Europe), and fun, and that’s just the plot – the writing itself was topnotch. Feutl uses a familiar situation to get the ball rolling: the protagonist, Janey, is forced to be somewhere she doesn’t want to be (though as places go, The Banff Springs Hotel’s not too shabby) with people she’d rather not be with: her grandma; grandma’s boyfriend, who’s been hired by the hotel to play Santa;…