Trending:
Adam Johnson has a new novel on the way.
PEOPLE can exclusively share the cover of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s forthcoming novel, The Wayfinder, out this fall through MCD, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The new novel, described by its publisher as a “historical epic,” is set on the Polynesian islands during the Tu’i Tonga Empire. Kōrero, a young girl from the islands, sets off on a treacherous quest in order to save her people from starvation, and travels the seas amid a world still undisturbed by Western civilization.
For Johnson, the idea for the novel, which touches upon themes like ecological balance and human resilience, came to him after a personal encounter.
“About a dozen years ago, I encountered a Māori storyteller in New Zealand who transfixed me with the sacred and cherished narratives of her people,” the author tells PEOPLE. “My own grandmother was Sioux, yet no language or culture made it down to me. What did it mean when stories disappeared? What was it that I had lost?”
“These questions set The Wayfinder in motion, a book about navigating not just the natural world, but realms of change, conflict and strife,” Johnson continues.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The novel also turns the “conventional swashbuckling adventure” narrative on its head while focusing on the history of the Tongan population.
“I began researching the peopling of the Pacific and the ways in which societies learned – or failed to learn – to harmonize with the delicate island ecosystems that supported them,” Johnsons says.
“To animate these portraits, I needed poetry, myth, dance and breathtaking portraits of the natural world. I needed to capture the vastness of the ocean and the unbroken nature of human lineage. Most of all, I needed characters whose bonds were as precious and pressing as our own as we navigate our own age of uncertainty.”
The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!
In addition to The Wayfinder, Johnson is also the author of the National Book Award-winning short story collection Fortune Smiles, as well as The Orphan Master’s Son, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.
The Wayfinder will be published on Oct. 14 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.
Read the full article here
