The Wind is Not a River

This 2nd novel from Brian Payton tells the story of a much under-reported side of America's involvement in WWII. When the Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor and then invaded the islands of Kiska and Attu in the Alaskan chain of Aleutian islands, the U.S. military kicked out all the reporters, evacuated the natives to warehouse camps on the mainland, and destroyed their villages so the Japanese could not use them. They then proceeded to try and bomb the Japanese off the islands. The government did not want the general population to know we had been invaded. This was the only theatre of WWII fought on U.S. soil.  National Geographic journalist John Easley has defied the ban by taking his recently dead brother's identity papers from the Canadian Air Force and hitching a ride on a bomber, which was then shot down near Attu. The story is told alternately by John, who is trying to evade capture by the Japanese, starvation, and freezing to death, and by his wife Helen, who leaves her ailing father in Seattle and resolves to find John by joining a USO troupe going to Alaska. The story is absolutely compelling, beautifully and heart-breakingly told from both their points of view. Not a happy ending, but a totally believable one.
For a quick summary of why the book is titled as it is, see the last paragraph of this review in the NYT.  Also a very thoughtful review in the Chicago Tribune.