Winter’s Captive is a story of one woman’s incredible survival against all odds in the Canadian northern wilderness, and her ensuing emotional and spiritual journey towards empowerment.  In her novel, BC author June Bourgo presents her admirably heroic, yet real-to-life protagonist, Georgia Charles, who faces unimaginable adversity on her road to personal enlightenment.

 Recently separated from a cheating husband who left her for his pregnant mistress, a vulnerable and dejected Georgia leaves her North Vancouver home to spend a month with a childhood friend in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.  Her pleasant stay in Whitehorse takes an abrupt turn, however, when she is impulsively kidnapped by two bank robbers, only days after discovering that she was five months into her own pregnancy.

  Georgia flees her captors and ends up hopelessly lost and alone in the northern wilderness, miles away from civilization.  But, with a will to survive fuelled by a mother’s love for her unborn child, she trudges through the forest until she finds a cabin, locked up for the winter, yet stocked with enough provisions for a person to live on for a few months.  With no hope of finding her way back to civilization until spring, Georgia must wait out the winter in the cabin, and during that time, give birth to her baby on her own.

 Written from Georgia’s perspective, the majority of Bourgo’s novel deals with her remarkable winter stay at the cabin. From the details of her everyday routine, to her encounters with wild animals, to the amazing solo birth of her daughter, Georgia’s physical struggles are extraordinary. However, it is her mental struggles that pose the biggest threat to her survival, and it is her ability to deal with them that truly demonstrates her strength as a woman. 

 The story of Georgia Charles’s winter in the remote Canadian north is not only a compelling tale of survival, but also an amazing account of a woman’s journey towards personal empowerment and spiritual enlightenment.  June Bourgo’s writing inspires readers to connect with her main character on a personal level, while urging them to examine and reflect upon the perceived myths and expectations of human relationships.