Very much enjoyed this novel. The writing is beautiful and story compelling as Guterson uses a murder trial held during a snow storm in 1954 as a touch stone to tell his story. A young fisherman is drowned off an island in the Pacific Northwest - maybe murdered by a Japanese-American fisherman to settle an old score over land. Guterson uses the trial to delve into the lives of the community trying to recover from the trauma of WWII. Veterans returned from war, Japanese families returned from internment camps. The community struggles with its prejudice and human failings. Guterson jumps back in forth in time following the lives of several islanders as they grow up and grow apart; providing concise and insightful descriptions of all the characters - major and minor - as well as the lush landscape in which they live. 
 Highly recommend.