Review: I Want to Die in my Boots by Natalie Appleton
I Want to Die in My Boots by Natalie Appleton Victoria: Touchwood Editions , 2025 What a fantastic novel that tells the story of a woman a century ago who had been largely lost to history until now. This is Appleton's fictional reimagining of the life of Belle Jane Corneil, and I was pleased to review it for The British Columbia Review . This article was originally published on the BC Review on August 7, 2025. *** Imagining the lives of women a century ago as they worked and tended the lands of the North American prairie can feel elusive because of the male-centred narratives that dominate. It must have felt like uncovering a nugget of gold when Vernon-based writer Natalie Appleton discovered a brief mention of “Mrs. B.J. Dale” in a local publication during her research on homesteaders in Ravenscrag, Saskatchewan. The B.J. stands for Belle Jane, a real-life American-Canadian woman who led an outfit of cattle thieves in Saskatchewan, but who left relatively few clues as to her st...
