Gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric—a masterpiece of suspense San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man's guilt. For on San Pedro, memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and the Japanese girl who grew up to become Kabuo's wife; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched.

Snow Falling on Cedars's main character is named Ishmael, and he, like Ahab, is a cripple, who lost a hand during World War II. He is obsessed with Hatsue, a Japanese girl whom he loved as a child. Love and obsession, two sides of the same coin. It is a mixed-genre book: a police procedural, courtroom drama, and story of star-crossed love, all rolled into one. The uniqueness of the book comes from its setting in Puget Sound in 1954. It is a place of snow and fog and a dark legacy with regards to its Japanese-American population, who were shipped off to internment camps during World War II.