Thanks to Hodgson, the departed can rest easy knowing their worldly goods, however meager or displaced, have at last found a warm and loving home.

Like Hodgson, we can only step back and marvel at those who have tiptoed through history, scattering biographical fragments here and there before retreating to destinations where sepia-toned photographs, house deeds and wooden boxes are unnecessary. Of course, the people we meet through Hodgson's travels (some living, some dead) add yet another remarkable layer to these richly detailed vignettes. In each, we flank Hodgson as she gently fingers trinkets and seashells, sifts through distressed maps, stacks and unstacks slides and expired passports, all the while conversationally remarking on what this detritus represents-or could represent, given the right context and a bit of back story. Trading in Memories, Hodgson's diary of her journeys through the flea markets of Europe, North Africa and North America and presented scrapbook-like with snapshots of her amazing finds, is a revelation that guides readers down back alleys and into musty shops. Imagine that-books with pictures for grown-ups! It may be a simple formula, but it's Hodgson's and it works like a charm every time. Whether writing fiction (The Tattooed Map, The Sensualist), non-fiction (The Rat: A Perverse Miscellany) or angular travel journals (Italy Out of Hand), Hodgson drops readers into palpable netherworlds with exquisite storytelling and accompanying images. Vancouver author, book designer, and globe-trotting packrat Barbara Hodgson crafts the latter. There are books and then there are extraordinary portals to the imagination.

Trading in Memories by Barbara Hodgson