The Golden Snare
1921
The Golden Snare, published in 1921 by James Oliver Curwood, is a gripping adventure novel set in the Canadian wilderness. It follows Wabi, a young man, and his friend Mukoki, an old Cree Indian, as they navigate the dangers posed by ruthless criminals led by Black Roger. The story explores themes of survival, friendship, and the clash between civilization and the wild, all while featuring vivid descriptions of the rugged landscape. The novel is notable for its portrayal of Indigenous characters and the challenges they face in a changing world.
Editions
X-Ray
“And in my books it is my desire to tell of the lives of the wild things which I know as they are actually lived. It is not my desire to humanize them. If we are to love wild animals so much that we do not want to kill them we MUST KNOW THEM AS THEY ACTUALLY LIVE. And in their lives, in the facts of their lives, there is so much of real and honest romance and tragedy, so much that makes them akin to ourselves that the animal biographer need not step aside from the paths of actuality to hold one's interest.””
— James Oliver Curwood
“One's hard luck and misfortune form the measuring stick for future good luck and fortune.””
— James Oliver Curwood
“one's capacity for happiness depends largely on how deeply one has suffered.””
— James Oliver Curwood
“If old Tuboa had been there that night it is possible he would have read strange warnings in the winds that whispered now and then softly in the treetops, Ie was such a night; a night when the Red Gods whisper low among themselves, a carnival of glory in which even the dipping shadows and the high stars seemed to quiver with the life of a potent language.””
— James Oliver Curwood
“No man has ever looked clearly into the mystery of death as it is impressed upon the senses of the northern dog. It comes to him, sometimes, with the wind. Most frequently it must come with the wind, and yet there are ten thousand masters in the northland who will swear that their dogs have given warning of death hours before it actually came; and there are many of these thousands who know from experience that their teams will stop a quarter or half a mile from a strange cabin in which there lies unburied dead.””
— James Oliver Curwood
“That was the wonder of it. She had been reckless”
— James Oliver Curwood
