"Set in a sawmill town in the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the 20th century, this historical novel dramatically charts rising tensions that can only lead to disaster.

The boom and bust cycle of Everett's sawdust economy turned the town into a place of incredible extremes," explains Howard in his historical note that prefaces this book. In the early 1900s, Everett, Washington, is the focus of the timber industry in the Northwest. Such is the demand for labor that it becomes widely known as a location where an unskilled worker can easily find a job. Wave after wave of newcomers...