The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party

From the number 1 bestselling writer of The Boys within the Boat and Facing the Mountain comes an unforgettable epic of circle of relatives, tragedy, and survival at the American frontier

“An excellent pairing of talent and material.… Engrossing.… A deft and ambitious storyteller.” — Mary Roach, New York Times Book Review

In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a greater future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes, and, over the following thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

In this gripping narrative, New York Times bestselling writer Daniel James Brown sheds new light on some of the legendary events in American history. Following each and every painful footstep of Sarah’s journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.