David Guterson's first novel, "Snow Falling on Cedars," became a surprise success in 1994 mostly through word of mouth. A well-written, almost poetic look at life in an insular community on an island in the Pacific Northwest, the book was an intriguing blend of courtroom theatrics, forbidden love and the physical and psychological effects of the Second World War filtered through the conscience of the town's newspaperman.

The white natives, many of Scandinavian and Germanic stock, lived in…