Ghost on the Steppe

by Cecelia Holland

First published 1969

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4.0(171)

Twelve-year-old Djela grows up in a Kipchak community on the edge of the Gobi, surrounded by stories of Karakorum and the conquests in which his father and grandfather served. Skilled with horses and a bow but impatient with ordinary work, he commits a prank and then lies about it. His punishment is removal to an isolated northern cattle camp, far from the heroic life he imagines for himself.

At the camp, unexplained violence and the presence of a suspected killer turn Djela’s exile into a test of observation and courage. He must distinguish fear from evidence and childish fantasy from the responsibilities of steppe life. Written for younger readers and connected to the world of Until the Sun Falls, the novel is a coming-of-age mystery set within Mongol pastoral society rather than a direct account of conquest.