After reading ‘Crosses in the Sky’ I just had to read the prequel of sorts, the story of Pierre Radisson, explorer extraordinaire as researched and told by Mark Bourrie. What a read. As a boy, shipped off to the fort at Trois Riviere to live with relatives, Pierre goes duck hunting outside the walls with two friends. They are quickly captured by an Iroquois raiding party, his friends killed, but lucky Pierre, (probably due to his extraordinary good looks) is kept and brought home by the Iroquois and adopted into a family. His life from this moment is almost unbelievable. As a teenager he learns warrior skills and bravery, as a man he seems to fear absolutely nothing and moves from one fabulous adventure to another funding himself via fur trading and instigating the beginnings of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In his old age he writes his life story for King Charles. Honestly, I could hardly put it down. Written with great precision and attention to detail, it is a roller coaster ride of a book.