Wandering Stars: A novel

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, a New York Times bestseller and Booker Prize longlist title, is a powerful follow-up to his acclaimed debut There There. The novel expands Orange’s interwoven narratives across generations, tracing the lasting effects of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

It begins in Colorado, 1864, where Star, a young massacre survivor, is imprisoned at Fort Marion and forced to assimilate under Richard Henry Pratt, the man who later establishes the Carlisle School. Years later, Star’s son Charles endures similar cruelty at Carlisle, where he finds brief solace with Opal Viola, another student dreaming of freedom.

Through three generations, Orange examines the enduring trauma and resilience of Native families, exploring how the violence of the past shapes their descendants’ identities. Wandering Stars is a heartbreaking and luminous epic about history, survival, and the inheritance of pain and hope — a stunning testament to Orange’s extraordinary literary power.