Tommy Orange's Wandering Stars serves as both prequel and companion to There There, tracing the historical roots of trauma that echo through his characters' lives. Beginning with the Sand Creek Massacre and moving through generations, Orange reveals how violence ripples across time, shaping families and communities in ways both visible and invisible. The novel refuses to look away from pain while insisting on the enduring strength of Indigenous survival.

Because understanding the present requires reckoning with the past. Orange threads history into contemporary life with devastating clarity.