About Paula
For more than two decades Paula Brook has divided her time between Vancouver, British Columbia and the small town of Loreto in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Raised on the Canadian prairies, she is a graduate of the University of Toronto (Arts) and Toronto Metropolitan University (Journalism). Paula is a career journalist who has penned cover stories for national magazines, was editor-in-chief of Western Living Magazine from 1986 to 1995, and wrote a long-running feature column for the Vancouver Sun newspaper. She has published three non-fiction books. Olive Grove, Who Are You? is her debut novel, more than a decade in the making and drawing deeply from the southern side of her life: connections with local Mexicans and expats, knowledge of regional history and culture, and the amazing landscape viewed from the creaking saddle of a slow-moving mule. Fluent in Spanish, she manages El Caballo Blanco bookstore in Loreto.
Paula Brook’s own story adds an intriguing dimension to Olive Grove, Who Are You?—a third layer of meaning for readers interested in backstory. Like her fictional protagonists, Paula staged her own “run for the border” two decades ago, learning Spanish, building a home and reinventing herself in Mexico’s Baja California Sur where she now runs a small bookstore and facilitates writing workshops.
