In the middle of a March night nearly thirty years ago, a heavy fog rolls in off the Gulf of Georgia to smother a small fishing town at the mouth of the Fraser River. Ominous and unsettling, the fog sets the scene for a compelling series of events that will forever alter the town and the people who live there - especially the Mawsons, one of the many families whose survival depends on the rollercoaster fortunes of BC's commercial fishing industry.

Tense and timely, and set against the backdrop of one of the world's great rivers, Downriver Drift celebrates and mourns a traditional way of life that is rapidly disappearing. Bowling draws on the mysterious, powerful life cycle of the Pacific salmon to create a mythic narrative of human discovery, loss, conflict and forgiveness. With a poet's eye for detail and a storyteller's instinct for drama, he paints an unforgettable portrait of west coast fishing village, a world that has never been more stirringly represented in Canadian fiction.