The Wayfinder: A Novel
Oct 2025 · Sold by MCD
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Named one of Ten Best Books of 2025 by The Wall Street Journal
Named one of Ten Best Books of 2025 by The Washington Post
Named a Best Novel of 2025 by NPR and Publishers Weekly
Named a Best Historical Novel of 2025 by The New York Times
“A powerful and original epic . . . Deadly politics, tragic romance and dangerous sea journeys keep the drama at a spirited boil.”
—The New York Times
“An epic of extraordinary abundance . . . modern and mythological . . . wondrous enough to endure.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“An epic that feels less created than unearthed . . . The Wayfinder is sui generis—a tapestry of South Pacific myth, archetypal quest, political allegory, environmental jeremiad and feminist revision that feels both ancient and impossibly relevant.”
—The Washington Post
Talking corpses, poetic parrots, and a fan that wafts the breath of life—this is the world young Kōrero finds herself thrust into when a mysterious visitor lands on her island, a place so remote its inhabitants have forgotten the word for stranger. Her people are desperate and on the brink of starvation, and the wayward stranger offers them an impossible choice: they can remain in the only home they’ve ever known and await the uncertainty to come, or Kōrero can join him and venture into unfamiliar waters, guided by only the night sky and his assurance of a bountiful future in the Kingdom of Tonga. What Kōrero and her people don’t know is that the promised refuge is no utopia—instead, Tonga is an empire at war and on the verge of collapse, a place where brains are regularly liberated from skulls and souls get trapped in coconuts with some frequency.
The perils of Tonga are compounded by a royal feud: loyalties are shifting, graves are being opened, and everyone lives in fear of a jellyfish tattoo. Here, survival can rest on a perfectly performed dance or the acceptance of a cup of kava. Together, the stranger and Kōrero embark upon an epic voyage—one that will deliver them either to salvation or to the depths of the Pacific.
Evoking the grandeur of Wolf Hall and the splendor of Shōgun, the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Adam Johnson conjures oral history, restores the natural world, and locates what’s best in humanity. Toweringly ambitious and breathtakingly immersive, The Wayfinder is an instant, timeless classic.
Named one of Ten Best Books of 2025 by The Washington Post
Named a Best Novel of 2025 by NPR and Publishers Weekly
Named a Best Historical Novel of 2025 by The New York Times
“A powerful and original epic . . . Deadly politics, tragic romance and dangerous sea journeys keep the drama at a spirited boil.”
—The New York Times
“An epic of extraordinary abundance . . . modern and mythological . . . wondrous enough to endure.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“An epic that feels less created than unearthed . . . The Wayfinder is sui generis—a tapestry of South Pacific myth, archetypal quest, political allegory, environmental jeremiad and feminist revision that feels both ancient and impossibly relevant.”
—The Washington Post
Talking corpses, poetic parrots, and a fan that wafts the breath of life—this is the world young Kōrero finds herself thrust into when a mysterious visitor lands on her island, a place so remote its inhabitants have forgotten the word for stranger. Her people are desperate and on the brink of starvation, and the wayward stranger offers them an impossible choice: they can remain in the only home they’ve ever known and await the uncertainty to come, or Kōrero can join him and venture into unfamiliar waters, guided by only the night sky and his assurance of a bountiful future in the Kingdom of Tonga. What Kōrero and her people don’t know is that the promised refuge is no utopia—instead, Tonga is an empire at war and on the verge of collapse, a place where brains are regularly liberated from skulls and souls get trapped in coconuts with some frequency.
The perils of Tonga are compounded by a royal feud: loyalties are shifting, graves are being opened, and everyone lives in fear of a jellyfish tattoo. Here, survival can rest on a perfectly performed dance or the acceptance of a cup of kava. Together, the stranger and Kōrero embark upon an epic voyage—one that will deliver them either to salvation or to the depths of the Pacific.
Evoking the grandeur of Wolf Hall and the splendor of Shōgun, the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Adam Johnson conjures oral history, restores the natural world, and locates what’s best in humanity. Toweringly ambitious and breathtakingly immersive, The Wayfinder is an instant, timeless classic.
Named one of Ten Best Books of 2025 by The Wall Street Journal
Named one of Ten Best Books of 2025 by The Washington Post
Named a Best Novel of 2025 by NPR and Publishers Weekly
Named a Best Historical Novel of 2025 by The New York Times
“A powerful and original epic . . . Deadly politics, tragi...
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About the author
Adam Johnson is the author of Fortune Smiles, which won the National Book Award and the Story Prize, and The Orphan Master’s Son, which won the Pulitzer Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the California Book Award. His previous books include the short-story collection Emporium and the novel Parasites Like Us. Johnson was born in South Dakota and is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Stanford University.
Adam Johnson is the author of Fortune Smiles, which won the National Book Award and the Story Prize, and The Orphan Master’s Son, which won the Pulitzer Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the California Book Award. His previous books include the short-story collection Emporium and the no...
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