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Series

North America’s Forgotten Past

North America’s Forgotten Past is a sequence of historical novels set among Indigenous peoples across North America, from Ice Age migration and environmental change to mound-building cities, Pueblo centres, Great Lakes trade, Atlantic communities and the formation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Most volumes use a new location, period and cast, allowing the series to range across thousands of years of Native history.

The novels combine archaeological reconstruction with political conflict, family drama, spiritual belief and adventure. Later books form connected groups centred on the Peacemaker tradition and the city of Cahokia, while People of the Songtrail examines contact between Indigenous communities and Norse settlers. The series presents pre-contact North America as a continent of complex societies, regional powers and long-distance networks rather than as an empty prelude to European colonisation.

Reading order

Books in this series (19 books)

People of the Wolf cover

1. People of the Wolf

W. Michael Gear

First published 1990

3.9(10,892)

During the last Ice Age, a young Dreamer receives a vision of a wolf leading his people away from starvation and violence in their old homeland. A small band follows him across the frozen northern passage into an unknown continent, carrying only the skills, stories and…

People of the Fire cover

2. People of the Fire

W. Michael Gear

First published 1991

4.0(9,367)

Generations after the first migration, hunters prosper on the North American plains while mammoths, giant sloths and other great animals become increasingly scarce. Drought and ecological change threaten the old seasonal pattern, forcing Little Dancer, White Calf and Two Smokes to reconsider how their people hunt,…

People of the Earth cover

3. People of the Earth

W. Michael Gear

First published 1992

4.2(4,849)

White Ash was taken from the Earth People as a child and raised among the Sun People, but the prophetic dreams that once made her an outsider continue to warn of cold, famine and war. When violence destroys her adopted family, she is rescued by a…

People of the River cover

4. People of the River

W. Michael Gear

First published 1992

4.2(3,929)

In the Mississippi Valley, drought and failing crops place the mound-building centre of Cahokia under severe strain. The Great Chief demands ever more tribute from dependent villages, while warriors, farmers and spiritual leaders question whether his authority is destroying the society it is meant to preserve.…

People of the Sea cover

5. People of the Sea

W. Michael Gear

First published 1993

4.2(2,940)

Eleven thousand years ago, melting glaciers transform the Pacific coast and the lands that will become California. Mammoths and other great animals are disappearing, but Sunchaser, the community’s Seer, can no longer find his way into the spirit world to explain what is happening. The arrival…

People of the Lakes cover

6. People of the Lakes

W. Michael Gear

First published 1994

4.6(376)

Star Shell, daughter of a Hopewell chief, believes that a powerful ceremonial mask is corrupting the clans of the Great Lakes region. She sets out to carry it north to Roaring Water, where she intends to cast it beyond recovery, accompanied by the trader Otter, the…

People of the Lightning cover

7. People of the Lightning

W. Michael Gear

First published 1995

4.5(284)

In ancient Florida, fifteen-year-old Pondwader is feared because his pale appearance marks him as the prophesied Lightning Boy. His community tries to remove the danger by marrying him to Musselwhite, a warrior already consumed by the capture of her husband and the threat posed by an…

People of the Silence cover

8. People of the Silence

W. Michael Gear

First published 1996

4.5(284)

Around 1150, the Chacoan world of great houses, roads, astronomers and long-distance trade is beginning to fracture. A dying ruler learns that his wife secretly bore a daughter fifteen years earlier and orders the unknown young woman killed before she can threaten his lineage. Cornsilk escapes…

People of the Mist cover

9. People of the Mist

W. Michael Gear

First published 1997

4.5(284)

Six hundred years ago on Chesapeake Bay, Red Knot is murdered on the eve of a marriage intended to unite powerful communities. Suspicion falls on High Fox, the young man whose obsessive love for her was widely known, and the death threatens to turn political rivalry…

People of the Masks cover

10. People of the Masks

W. Michael Gear

First published 1998

4.5(285)

In the woodlands of what are now New York and Ontario, the child Rumbler has been identified by prophecy as the Manitou Child. War Leader Jumping Badger murders Rumbler’s mother, destroys his village and abducts him in the hope of turning the boy’s spiritual reputation into…

People of the Raven cover

12. People of the Raven

W. Michael Gear

First published 2004

4.3(2,299)

At the end of the Ice Age on the north-western coast, Rain Bear leads the struggling Raven People as changing climate and diminishing resources intensify rivalry with the North Wind People. Evening Star, an escaped captive from their enemy, arrives seeking sanctuary and warning that warriors…

People of the Nightland cover

14. People of the Nightland

W. Michael Gear

First published 2007

4.3(1,421)

A thousand years after the migration remembered in People of the Wolf, the last great glacier is melting and an enormous freshwater lake threatens the communities living around it. The Nightland People occupy ice caves near the glacier, while the Sunpath People hunt to the south…

People of the Morning Star cover

21. People of the Morning Star

W. Michael Gear

First published 2014

4.6(595)

At the height of Cahokia’s power, thousands live around monumental mounds while traders and warriors connect the city to distant regions. The ruler known as Morning Star is treated as a living embodiment of divine authority, making an attempt on his life a threat not only…

People of the Songtrail cover

22. People of the Songtrail

W. Michael Gear

First published 2015

4.2(955)

Around the end of the first millennium, Norse settlers reach the north-eastern coast of North America seeking land and security beyond the conflicts of Europe. Their arrival brings them into contact with Indigenous communities whose trade routes, territories and political relationships long predate the newcomers. The…

Sun Born cover

23. Sun Born

W. Michael Gear

First published 2016

4.6(817)

Cahokia faces a new challenge when emissaries arrive from a powerful rival civilisation and an old enemy returns with vengeance in mind. Lady Night Shadow Star recognises that the visitors possess knowledge and resources capable of overturning Cahokia’s dominance, but Morning Star appears unwilling or unable…

Moon Hunt cover

24. Moon Hunt

W. Michael Gear

First published 2017

4.6(398)

Whispering Dawn comes to Cahokia as the bride of Morning Star, bringing political ambitions and dangerous spiritual knowledge into the centre of the ruling order. When she poisons the living god and the Night Moth carries away his souls, the city begins to fracture along clan…

Star Path cover

25. Star Path

W. Michael Gear

First published 2019

4.7(598)

Morning Star sends Blue Heron and the thief Seven Skull Shield east towards Cofitachequi, where a threat beyond the Appalachian Mountains may endanger Cahokia’s distant colonies. Their route follows the Mississippi, Tennessee and mountain river systems through communities resentful of Cahokian expansion. The expedition must manage…

People of the Canyons cover

26. People of the Canyons

W. Michael Gear

First published 2020

4.5(419)

In the canyon country of the ancient Southwest, a ruler searches for a legendary pot said to contain the soul of an exceptionally powerful witch. He intends to use the trapped Power to secure absolute authority over communities already damaged by war. The elderly healer Tocho…

Lightning Shell cover

27. Lightning Shell

W. Michael Gear

First published 2022

4.6(424)

Cahokia is divided as Spotted Wrist prepares an assault on Evening Star Town and the new Keeper’s loyal forces tighten their control over the centre of the city. Rival factions invoke religion, kinship and military necessity while the survival of Morning Star’s political order remains uncertain.…