I bought this book at the Portland Airport outpost of Powell's on my way to Alaska, for a backpack in the Wilderness (Gates of the Arctic National Park). I didn't have a lot of time at the airport after my glass of wine. I saw the title, the cover photo, and that it was a staff pick, grabbed it, paid, and boarded my flight for Fairbanks.
That was in 2013.
I don't remember if I knew it was historical fiction, I think I thought it was about something wildernessy, like hiking. Or about a family somewhere homesteading. But it is about a man who fought in (for the South despite being a northerner)and survived the Civil War then settled in the Pacific Northwest.
It reads as though it is written by someone who loves the wilderness and describing it (and who does that well) and is a Civil War buff. I previously would not have described this as an interesting combination, which is good since i don't have to take that back. It is a fantastic book that starts slow. The description in the beginning moves like the Grapes of Wrath but the war action helps it pick up. It is Wallace Stegner sad, and manages to conjure family tragedy when family in the traditional blood relative sense is distinctly lacking.
I finished the book this weekend and I don't remember when I started reading it. However, it was long enough ago that i forgot what i read in the prologue. That made the last 20 pages or so far more suspenseful than if I had remembered the prologue. So...I think it was actually a good thing for me. I reread the prologue right after I finished the book and I liked that order of operations.
http://www.amazon.com/Wilderness-Novel-Lance-Weller/dp/1620400626/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425531999&sr=8-1&keywords=lance+weller+wilderness
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