Most Popular Books by David Guterson

When Dr Ben Givens left his Seattle home he never intended to return. It was to be a journey past snow-covered mountains to a place of canyons, sagelands and orchards, where, on the verges of the Columbia River, Ben had entered the world and would now take his leave of it.

A powerful tale of the Pacific Northwest in the 1950s, reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird. Courtroom drama, love story, and war novel, this is the epic tale of a young Japanese-American and the man on trial for killing the man she loves.

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars—a beautifully observed and emotionally piercing collection of short stories that “center[s] on men in the Pacific Northwest, characters whose emotions are sometimes as isolated as the landscape” (The New York Times). Like his novel, Snow Falling On Cedars, for which he received the PEN/Faulkner Award, Guterson''s short stories are set largely in the Pacific Northwest. In these vast landscapes, hunting, fishing, and sports are the givens of men''s lives. With prose that stings like the scent of gunpowder, this is a collection of power.

Ann Holmes seems an unlikely candidate for revelation. A sixteen-year-old runaway, she is an itinerant mushroom picker who lives in a tent. Her past has been hardscrabble. Then one November afternoon, in the foggy woods of North Fork, Washington, the Virgin comes to her, clear as day. Is this delusion, a product of her occasional drug use, or a true calling to God? Gradually word spreads, and thousands converge upon the already troubled town. For Tom Cross, an embittered logger who''s been out of work since his son was paralysed in a terrible accident, the possibility that Ann''s visions are real offers a last chance for him and his son. As Father Collins searches both his own soul and Ann''s; as Carolyn struggles with her less than admirable intentions; as Tom alternates between despair and hope; Our Lady of the Forest combines suspense, grit and humour in a story of faith at a contemporary crossroad.

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars comes a coming-of-age novel about two different visions of what it means to live a good life and the compromises that come with the search for fulfillment. • “Gorgeous, haunting…. A deeply considered tragedy of social alienation and hubris.” —The Washington Post Book World John William Barry and Neil Countryman shared a love of the outdoors, trekking often into Washington''s remote backcountry where they had to rely on their wits—and each other—to survive. Soon after graduating from college, Neil sets out on a path that will lead him toward a life as a devoted schoolteacher and family man. But John William makes a radically different choice, dropping out of college and moving deep into the woods. When he enlists Neil to help him disappear completely, Neil finds himself drawn into a web of agonizing responsibility, deceit, and tragedy—one that will finally break open with a wholly unexpected, life-altering revelation.

When a mild-mannered actuary sleeps with the sexy British au pair who''s taking care of his children in Seattle in 1962, he sets in motion a tragedy of epic proportions. Their orphaned child, adopted and adored, grow up to be Edward Aaron King, a billionaire Internet tycoon and international celebrity-- who unknowingly hurtles through life toward a fate he may have no power to shape.

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars—a moving father-son story that is also a taut courtroom drama and a bold examination of privilege, power, and how to live a meaningful life. "Ultimately, the mystery at the center of The Final Case is not about innocence or guilt, but about how one family’s profound attachments can stand alongside breathtaking cruelty in another.” —Scott Turow, The New York Times Book Review A girl dies one late, rainy night a few feet from the back door of her home. The girl, Abeba, was born in Ethiopia. Her adoptive parents, Delvin and Betsy Harvey—conservative, white fundamentalist Christians—are charged with her murder. Royal, a Seattle criminal attorney in the last days of his long career, takes Betsy Harvey’s case. An octogenarian without a driver’s license, he leans on his son—the novel’s narrator—as he prepares for trial. So begins The Final Case, a bracing, astute, and deeply affecting examination of justice and injustice—and familial love. David Guterson’s first courtroom drama since Snow Falling on Cedars, it is his most compelling and heartfelt novel to date.

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars—an extraordinary collection of short stories spanning across America, Nepal, South Africa, and Germany that explores the mysteries of love and our complex desire for connection. “First-rate.... Humorous, ironic, and satiric.... Each story is realistic, bordering on surrealistic.” —The Boston Globe These stories showcase Guterson’s gifts for psychological nuance, emotional suspense, and evocation of the natural world. In these pages, we meet, among others, a lonely landlord trying to reach out to his tenants; a middle-aged widower looking for love online; an American Jew traveling to Berlin to confront his haunted past. Celebrating the surprises that lurk within the dramas of our daily lives, Problems with People marks the return of a contemporary American master to the form that launched his literary career.

An honest, perceptive discussion of children, education, and our common life as a nation by the bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars. A high school English teacher, Guterson and his wife educate their own children at home. “A literate primer for anyone who wants to know more about alternatives to the schools” (Kirkus Reviews). Index.

Written well into mid-life, Songs for a Summons are explorations and observations of a writing life.

From the best-selling author of Snow Falling on Cedars: a poignant, searching memoir about one man''s fall into depression in the wake of a national tragedy, and his brave struggle to return to normalcy. Like most of the country and the world, David Guterson woke up on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, not thinking history was about to change. He was in Washington, D.C., with a group of fellow writers, evaluating grant applications for the National Endowment of the Arts. But before their work day had even begun, the Pentagon was bombed; the Twin Towers were down in New York City; and havoc was wreaked irrevocably on our collective sense of happiness, security, and national pride. Scrambling to get out of the city and back home any way he could, David, along with two fellow writers, rented a car and drove 2,600 miles across the country to Seattle. But the attacks triggered something inside him, a pervasive feeling of hopelessness, fear, despair--a clinical depression that that would not go away. He lost interest in his work, family, friends--his life. Inspired by William Styron''s masterful Darkness Visible, Guterson''s Descent is the searing account of one man''s envelopment by the darkest of human emotions, and his tunneling out. Powerful, intense, and deeply felt, it is at once personal and universally illuminating--a confession from a great literary mind who takes us on a journey of what it feels like, and means, to lose one''s grasp on the world--and to find it once more, even if by fumbling in the dark.