Bound By Tides (1860): A historical novel of the early days of Port Townsend

Where Two Waters Meet: The Port Townsend Saga

A DECADE HAS PASSED, AND PORT TOWNSEND IS NO LONGER A FLEDGLING SETTLEMENT.

In 1860, as the Civil War casts its long shadow across America, Port Townsend finds itself transformed. What was once a delicate balance between settlers and S'Klallam people is now increasingly dictated by military oversight, official records, and the tightening grip of federal control.

Elizabeth Morrison has built a prosperous boarding house where ship captains, territorial judges, and now Union officers take their meals and find their beds. But beneath her careful ledgers lies a deeper accounting-of bonds maintained, traditions preserved, and resistance hidden in plain sight.

As Fort Townsend's soldiers establish their presence five miles from town, the S'Klallam face impossible choices. Young Michael T kwəb and Sarah Morrison come of age learning to navigate between worlds-finding paths through waters that have been marked with new boundaries but still run with ancient currents.

Chief Chetzemoka leads his people through this changing landscape, adapting ceremonies to survive scrutiny while preserving their essential meaning. In shipyards and Custom Houses, on ceremony beaches and Victorian porches, the characters find ways to maintain what matters most when everything seems to be slipping away.

Bound by Tides continues the sweeping saga of Port Townsend's early days, revealing how power and resistance operate in the spaces between official records-and how some things cannot be erased, no matter how the tide turns.