Historical fiction offers a unique opportunity to blend research with imagination and creativity. Writers Alix Christie, Rebekah Anderson, and Elaine Cockrell all explore the experiences of real communities in Eastern Washington and the Northwest through the lens of their own family and cultural histories. Beyond sharing captivating stories, their novels shed light on important issues surrounding social justice and environmental impacts. In this virtual event, Alix and Rebekah will read excerpts from their novels followed by a conversation led by Elaine. The authors plan to be part of a live chat during the premiere of this event on YouTube, so don’t miss this opportunity to speak with them directly about their work and writing lives!
This is a virtual panel at the Get Lit! Festival at Eastern Washington University. Learn more and register: https://inside.ewu.edu/getlit/event/true-histories-of-the-pacific-nortwest/
About The Shining Mountains:
The year is 1838. A young Scotsman forced from his homeland arrives at Hudson’s Bay. Angus McDonald is contracted to British masters to trade for fur. But the world he discovers is beyond even a Highlander’s wildest imaginings: raging rivers, buffalo hunts, and the powerful daughter of an ancient and magnificent people. In Catherine Baptiste, kin to Nez Perce chiefs, Angus recognizes a kindred spirit. The Rocky Mountain West in which they meet will soon be torn apart by competing claims: between British fur traders, American settlers, and the Native peoples who have lived for millennia in the valleys and plateaus of the Shining Mountains’ western slopes.
In this epic family saga, the real history of the American West is revealed in all its terror, beauty, and complexity. The Shining Mountains brilliantly limns a world now long forgotten: of blended cultures seeking allies, trading furs for guns and steel, and a way of life in collision with westward colonial expansion.
About Alix Christie:
Alix Christie is the direct descendant of Angus McDonald’s brother Duncan. Her debut novel, Gutenberg’s Apprentice, was published by Harper Books in 2014. For the past thirty years she has reported for newspapers in California and from Europe as a foreign correspondent, including for the Washington Post, the Guardian of London, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Salon.com. She currently reviews books and arts for The Economist. She lives in San Francisco, California.