The Wind Is Not a River

Finished March 25
The Wind Is Not a River by Brian Payton

This novel is set during World War II. John Easley is a Canadian journalist, fighting to tell the story of the US forces fighting the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands. The US Government has been keeping the fighting here out of the news and they don't want journalists in the area. John has tried twice and been caught and sent out twice. The death of his younger brother in Europe seems to change him and make him more determined than ever to tell the story of this aspect of the war.
John is also newly married, and his wife Helen is the best thing that ever happened to him. The two have set up their home in her home town of Seattle and doing well. But his determination to keep going back to the north has caused a rift in their relationship and they parted on an unhappy note.
John manages to bluff his way onto a plane in the Aleutians and that plane is shot down. John and a young airman are the only survivors, but the fog and the circumstances mean that the manage to stay unnoticed by the Japanese, but struggle to survive.
Helen, meanwhile, finds a way to get herself into Alaska following John's trail, hoping to figure out what happened to him and where he might be now. She is torn between looking after her ailing father and finding her husband, but is determined to find him if she can.
This is a story of a little told part of World War II, as well as a story of determination, of love, and of the things that drive us all.
A fascinating book.