West of Here by Jonathan Evison

West of Here by Jonathan Evison, Fiction, 496 pages.
Evison has written a big, sweeping, sort of book that spans a hundred years or so of a small part of Pacific coast history. Set outside of Seattle in the fictional town of Port Bonita, West of Here switches back and forth from 1890, right before the Thornburgh Dam is constructed, and 2006, just before it is dismantled.
In 1890 Port Bonita is a raw frontier town, peopled by white folk running from something back in the civilized world, or looking for something out in the wild, and Native Americans trying to find a new way as their old world vanishes around them. The last of the wilderness is being mapped and explored, the town is set for a boom that may not come, and big plans are being made all around.
In 2006, Port Bonita is a quietly desperate town, and nobody seems to know where their lives are going or how they went off track. They are the actual and spiritual descendants of the 1890 town, working at the fish packing plant, or working either side of the criminal justice system. They all seem to be looking backwards while trying to maintain some semblance of sanity, one current resident is temporarily possessed by an child from 1890, and one man seeks to re-trace the path that led to his encounter with bigfoot.
The book is filled with a great sense of time and place and an impressive cast of characters.

Check our Catalog.