Wandering Stars

‘At first I was writing a straightforward sequel to There There. And then I was at a museum in Sweden where I stumbled across this history of boarding schools, starting at a prison-castle in Florida. Half the prisoners there were from my tribe. I wanted to connect this history to the sequel somehow. Doing research, I found out one of the actual prisoners at the prison-castle’s name was Bear Shield, and that’s the name of one of the central families from There There, so I found the link and realised the book could be a generational saga.’

Read the full interview here.

‘This powerful epic entwines the stories of a diverse cast of characters, each grappling with the weight of history, identity and trauma. Through well-crafted prose and deftly drawn perspectives, Tommy Orange paints a vivid portrait of the Native American experience – both the pain of displacement and the resilience of those who continue ancestral traditions. Spanning centuries, the novel explores universal themes of family, addiction and the search for belonging in a society that often fails to recognise the value of its Indigenous people. Wandering Stars is a stunning achievement, a literary tour de force that demands attention.’

Gabino Iglesias, The Boston Globe

‘This is a novel that’s not scared to go into ugly, violent places. Orange perfectly balances the beauty of knowing where you came from, celebrating your ancestors, and recognizing the meaning of your roots and heritage with the brutality of racism and discrimination. That balance is reflected in the writing; poetic passages lead to shattering ones, cracking open the souls of his characters to reveal both their beauty and the lingering scars left by centuries of cruelty and forceful attempts at obliteration.’

Jonathan Escoffery, The New York Times Book Review

‘It’d be a mistake to think that the power of Wandering Stars lies solely in its astute observations, cultural commentary or historical reclamations, though these aspects of the novel would make reading it very much worthwhile. But make no mistake, this book has action! Suspense! The characters are fully formed and they get going right out of the gate […] Orange’s ability to highlight the contradictory forces that coexist within friendships, familial relationships and the characters themselves, who contend with holding private and public identities, makes Wandering Stars a towering achievement.’

Francine Prose, New York Review of Books

‘A densely populated, tightly plotted, and thoughtful response to Rob, to Gertrude Stein, and, more importantly, to the myths about and distortions of the history and the current situation of indigenous people in this country […] Deploying the capaciousness and elasticity of the novel form, Orange switches back and forth from the intimate to the panoramic, from the present to the past.’

Annie Bostrom, Booklist

‘[A] tender yet eviscerating history of a family’s survival—day to day, generation to generation—and their uneasy yet persistent belief in that survival. Their story, one character realizes, ‘has to be lived in order to be told, it is the song being sung, the dancer in midair,’ and, indeed, there is so much life in this mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic novel.’