The appeal to a Whidbey Island audience seemed stronger the longer a group of reading enthusiasts looked at a novel written by a nearby author.

Ultimately, the committee selected “The Wind is Not a River,” penned by Brian Payton of Vancouver, B.C., as the book for this year’s all-island Whidbey Reads program.

The community-based reading program, around since 2003, involves all five Sno-Isle Libraries on Whidbey. Programming takes place in March and April and will include opportunities for the public to read and discuss the boo. It will culminate with visits to the island by the author.

Kathy Bullene, assistant managing librarian at the Oak Harbor Library and this year’s Whidbey Reads chairperson, said that the selection committee was attracted to the book by a variety of factors.

“It’s based on whether we think it has appeal to our audiences across the island and also — the reality is — author availability and price,” Bullene said.

Payton’s novel, which was first published in December of 2013, is both a dramatic tale of survival and a love story.

“What intrigued us about this is it tells a very little known part of World War II history and the author is from Vancouver Island,” Bullene said. “We try to pick somebody at least on the West Xoast.”

The story is set in the early 1940s in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, the site of the only battle of World War II to take place on American soil.

The tale is about a journalist from Seattle who is so troubled by his younger brother’s death in Europe that he seeks to investigate the Japanese invasion in Alaska. He accompanies a crew on a bombing run over the Aleutians and is shot down over Attu, one of two remote Alaskan islands occupied by the Japanese.

The story turns into a tale of survival in the harsh Alaskan wilderness and remorse for the journalist over the decision to hastily leave his wife against her wishes and investigate a segment of the war that the U.S. government was trying to censor from the public.

“It goes into the whole survival story of, ‘How do you survive on an Arctic island that’s occupied by the Japanese when no one knows you’re there?’” Bullene said.

Bullene said the story also involves a PBY Catalina, the type of seaplane that was once based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

“We have that connection as well,” Bullene said.

The love story endures in the book when the journalist’s wife sets out to learn the fate of her missing husband by joining the United Service Organizations, or USO, so she can travel to entertain troops in the Aleutian Islands.

“The Wind is Not a River” was named both an American Booksellers Assocation IndieNext “Great Reads” pick and an American Library Association “Library Reads” pick. It also was selected as a “Best Book of the Year” by the Seattle Times and BookPage.

Sno-Isle libraries in Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Freeland, Clinton and Langley all participate in the Whidbey Reads program and will be stocking copies of the book, which comes in both paperback and hardcover.

About 100 extra copies of the book will be purchased by Friends of the Library groups on Whidbey to be distributed island-wide.

There have been requests for the book in print, digital and audio formats and in large type, said Leslie Franzen, branch manager at the Coupeville Library.

Oak Harbor managing librarian Mary Campbell said that the library’s eBook vendor will be offering unlimited digital copies of the book starting this month.

Printed copies of the book also are for sale at the Wind & Tide Bookshop on Pioneer Way in Oak Harbor.

Karen Mueller, owner of the Wind & Tide Bookshop, said of the Whidbey Reads program is always a much-anticipated event that creates a buzz among avid readers in the community.

“Last year, it was ‘Boys in the Boat,’” Mueller said. “It was a big event.

“The authors are usually well selected.”

Payton will make two Whidbey appearances: April 13 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland and April 14 at the Oak Harbor Library.

Public events that focus on themes related to the story begin in March.

Whidbey Reads is a collaborative effort between Sno-Isle Libraries, the island’s Friends of the Library groups and volunteers from each community.

“The whole intent is to get everybody reading the same book and talking about it essentially,” Bullene said.

“March and April are basically when we focus our programming. We try to have a series of programs leading up to the author event. The author event is kind of the culmination of the programs. The idea is to generate excitement about him or her coming and get to hear the back story.”