Wandering Stars

The heart-rending story of a Native American community told through the generations, longlisted for the Booker Prize.

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. This guard 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.