Books Set in North America, Washington State, United States

Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson (1995)

 

Snow Falling on Cedars is part trial novel, part mystery.  Set in San Piedro, a remote island in the Puget Sound in the 1950s, it takes place in the years after World War II, where Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese-American stands trial for the murder of fellow fisherman, Carl Heine.  Many of the men of San Piedro had fought in the War, and many are still skeptical of the Japanese.

 

Although Kabuo was born in the United States, and thus was American, he was born of immigrant parents.  Even before the War, there was considerable prejudice against the Japanese who lived on the island.  Furthermore, there were laws which prevented its Japanese citizens from owning land.  Underlying this novel is a feud between the Heine and Kabuo families.  Carl’s father had an arrangement to sell Kabuo’s father 7 acres of property for growing strawberries.  Kabuo’s father was making regular payments, but before he could make the final two payments, he and his family were sent off to an internment camp.  While Miyamoto family was interned, Carl Heine’s father died.  Carl’s mother, Etta, was a bitter and prejudiced woman, who took the opportunity to sell the land to another strawberry family.  When the Miyamoto family tried to claim their land, they were surprised to find it had been sold out from under them.  This feud brewed for many years.

 

When Carl was found drowned under suspicious circumstances, the local law enforcement was quick to settle on Kabuo as their prime suspect.  The novel begins with the trial, but the story is told in flashbacks as the reader meets the characters.  The reader learns their backstories and the interactions between the townspeople and the island’s Japanese community.  As evidence piles up against Kabuo, prejudices of the entire community are exposed.  The novel builds the suspense to the end.

 

Read first: December 29, 2003 / Second time: October 21, 2021 (for Hadassah Attorney Council Book discussion)

 

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: Canada and United States, Boston, Massachusetts

The Arctic Fury, by Greer Macallister (2020)

 

In 1853, Lady Jane Franklin sought out Virginia Reeve, a young adventurer, to lead an expedition into the Arctic to find her husband’s missing ship, which was lost somewhere in the Arctic.  Virginia had earned a reputation leading expeditions across the United States as settlers began making the trek across the country.

 

Although she had never travel that far north, Virginia was experienced in traveling across the Rockies in winter weather.  Lady Franklin insisted that a team of resourceful women could accomplish what the teams of men had failed to do.  Virginia was to take 11 women with her, most of whom were preselected for her.  One woman, Caprice Collins, was a spoiled young woman from a wealthy Boston family.  Although Caprice had experience in hiking in the Alps, she had an attitude, and from the beginning, she clashed with Virginia.  She also insisted bringing her maid with her, so instead of the original twelve women, the party consisted of 13 women.

 

Not all of the women who set off on the adventure returned.  A year after the team set off on their travels, Virginia found herself on trial for the murder of Caprice.  Five of the survivors attend the trial to lend support to Virginia.  Virginia has insufficient counsel and the prosecutor seemingly has damning evidence.

 

The novel goes back and forth between the trial and the Arctic trek.  We do not learn a lot about many of the women on this trek, but their background stories are slowly revealed as the novel proceeds.  Lady Franklin made it clear to Virginia, that if the expedition was a success, Virginia would be handsomely rewarded.  If, however, it was unsuccessful, Lady Franklin would deny all knowledge of Virginia.  [Spoiler Alert:  Throughout the novel the author drops hints that Virginia was a part of the Donner Party.  We learn at the end of the novel that Lady Franklin feared that her husband and his crew met the same fate, and that her motive for the expedition was to hide any evidence of cannibalism.]

 

This novel is very loosely based on historical events.  Lady Jane Franklin really did pay for several excursions into the Arctic to search for her husband’s lost expedition, although she did not hire a team of women to make the trek.

 

I loved this book.  There were several twists and turns throughout and the novel held up to the very last page.  I think I have found a new favorite author!

 

Read:  April 27, 2021

 

5 Stars