Columbia

In the opening sequence of this plodding generational saga, a Neanderthal called First Boy kills a mastodon by the banks of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. A few pages later, in 1792, the family chronicle of the Demers clan officially begins when a Chinook Indian princess is driven by a spiritual vision to marry a white trader, Duncan McDougal. Their son, Caleb, a half-breed raised by the white Demers family, marries a woman who had been raped by a Cayuse brave. Their descendents build a logging empire and participate in the construction of Washington's Grand Coulee Dam. In the 1980s, scion Nelson Demers, a journalist, helps archeologist Lisa Sing try to uncover evidence of First Boy's ancient triumph before the upstart river floods it out of reach for all time. Jekel (Sea Star has researched the river's history well, making interesting analogies between the ebb and flow of the water and the trying tides of human affairs, but in her preoccupation with the Columbia, she neglects to bring her characters to life. (June 16)