Wandering Stars

A heart-rending story of a Native American community told through the generations.

Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by an evangelical prison guard, who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial school, dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture and identity.

Years later, Star's son, Charles, is sent to this school, where he is brutalised by the same man. Together with fellow student Opal Viola, Charles envisions a future far away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.

Full of poetry music, rage and love, Wandering Stars, looks to the past and future across the generations of the Bear Shield and Red Feather family, finding their way through displacement and pain, towards home and hope.

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• LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024

• THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

• A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024

• AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024

'Wandering Stars is the kind of book that saves lives' - Kaveh Akbar, author of Martyr!

'Wondrous' - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All-Stars

'This novel is alive' - Tess Gunty, author of The Rabbit Hutch

'A towering achievement’ - New York Times

'As vital as air' - Guardian