Join beloved storyteller Anny Scoones as she sets out to discover the quaint and quirky charms of Victoria, BC. Not just a book of facts, Hometown is a gentle stroll through a diverse region with a fascinating and layered history. Observe, pause, ponder, and have what Anny likes to call “a little think” on the various characteristics and personalities of these areas. Consider not only how public art, beach creatures, monuments, heritage and historical features create a neighbourhood and contribute to a larger city, but also how they make us feel, how they move us.

Illustrated with 120 original watercolours by acclaimed artist Robert Amos, and featuring unique poems by Victoria’s poet laureate, Janet Rogers, Hometown: Out and About in Victoria’s Neighbourhoods presents Canada’s most livable city as the locals see it.

Anny Scoones is the author of Home: Tales of a Heritage Farm (2005) and Home and Away: More Tales of a Heritage Farm (2006). She is serving her third term on North Saanich's Municipal Council and has a special interest in heritage and agriculture preservation, banning cosmetic pesticide use, and architectural design and planning. Glamorgan Farm is home to many rare, rescued and heritage livestock breeds, including the now-famous pigs Matilda, Mabel, Rose and Boris; Naked Neck chickens; and a Russian woolly horse, Valnah. Please visit www.glamorganfarm.ca.

Anny Scoones' profile page

Robert Amos has painted thousands of pictures of the urban landscape and specializes in commissioned paintings of homes and gardens. He writes a weekly column, "On Art," published in the Times Colonist, and is the author (and illustrator) of seven books about Victoria, including , Artists in their Studios: Where Art is Born, and Inside Chinatown: Ancient Culture in a New World. Robert has recently been the artist in residence at the Fairmont Empress Hotel and is an Honorary Citizen of Victoria. He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1995. Robert lives in downtown Victoria, British Columbia. Please visit Robert's website at robertamos.com.

Robert Amos' profile page

"There are a lot of historical books on areas and such of Victoria, but they are very intensive. This will be more of a history of now. It will say what it’s like to live here today." Check out this interview with Robert Amos and Anny Scoones, illustrator and author of Hometown.

Read an interview with Hometown author Anny Scoones in The Times Colonist.

Reading Hometown is the best way to experience the real Victoria. The beautiful watercolours are the scenes you would see walking down the street or looking out your kitchen window. This is not the Victoria of the tourist brochures. This is the ‘town’ where we live, complete with characters and touchstones of ordinary, everyday life, in a beautiful, extraordinary place. —Jo-Ann Roberts, All Points West, CBC Radio

Western Living's Q&A: Exploring Victoria with Author Anny Scoones.