Vancouver author's debut suspense novel tackles identity, climate change and dangerous secrets

The year is 2038. Ess wakes up alone on a sailboat off the coast of Haida Gwaii with no memory of who she is or how she got there. 

That's the opening scene for Lisa Briedeau's debut novel, Adrift, which was released May 9. 

The novel follows Ess as she figures out who she is, what happened to her and what the state of the world is. Hint, things aren't looking great: dangerous storms and thousands of climate change refugees have become the norm.

Through Ess's amnesia, Brideau explores how much of our identity comes from connections and memories built up over time, and how we function without those things. 

She chose to set the book in coastal B.C., on and around the ocean, because it's an environment she knows well.

"I've always been by the ocean. I grew up on the East Coast, in Nova Scotia and then moved out here," she said.

"There's something about being at the edge of the world and that way it makes you kind of contemplate the world."

Climate change

While writing is a passion for Brideau she also works full-time as a sustainability specialist for the City of Vancouver, where she implements programs to make the city greener.

The book combines her interest in speculative fiction with her desire to educate others about the consequences of climate change.

"You can't write about the future anymore without [climate change]," she told North by Northwest host Margaret Gallagher. 

"You can't even really write about the present anymore without grappling with it because it's here. It's impacting us."

Brideau said she was working on revisions to the novel in 2021 when climate change became increasingly obvious in B.C. Floods, wildfires and a heat dome devastated several areas and killed residents. 

As the book was released, B.C. and neighbouring Alberta were set to see unseasonably hot temperatures, while already facing wildfires and flooding simultaneously.

Despite this, Brideau says she remains hopeful about the response to climate change. 

"I get to work in a place that's trying to move things forward and trying to advance things," she said.  

"We kind of have to focus on doing what we're doing and doing it to the best that we can."

Brideau said she feels the book is a hopeful outlook on the climate crisis, too. 

"It's got Canada that's entirely on renewable energy for our electricity grid, it's got places that have adapted to sea level rise."

It's also realistic about how the world could look 15 years from now.

"The reality is that even if we stop all carbon emissions today, the impacts are going to roll out and the places that are most vulnerable are going to feel the impacts regardless."