Snow Falling on Cedars: In 1954 a fisherman is found dead and a local Japanese-American man is charged with his murder. In the course of his trial, it becomes clear that more is at stake than one man's guilt. For San Piedro is haunted by memories: of a past love affair between a white boy and a Japanese girl; of land desired, paid for and lost; and of what happened during World War II when its Japanese residents were sent into exile while their neighbours watched. East of the Mountains: When he is diagnosed with cancer, Ben Givens leaves his home in Seattle and heads east with his Winchester and hunting dogs in tow. It is to be a final journey to a place of canyons and orchards on the verge of the Columbia River, where he had entered the world and had decided he will now leave it. But what transpires is anything but the journey he anticipates.
Author
David Guterson is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist. He is best known as the author of the novel Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), which won the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award. To date it has sold nearly four million copies. It was adapted for a 1999 film of the same title, directed by Scott Hicks and starring Ethan Hawke. The film received an Academy Award nomination for cinematography. Guterson's subsequent novels are East of the Mountains (1999), Our Lady of the Forest (2003), and The Other (2008). He is also the author of a short story collection, The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind (1989) and of a book of essays on education called Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense (1992). Guterson was born in Seattle, Washington, and received an M.A. from the University of Washington. A Guggenheim Fellow, and a former contributing editor to Harper's magazine, he is a co-founder of Field's End, an organization for writers.
