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Series
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
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…
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,…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Four thousand years ago in the lower Mississippi Valley, the death of a respected leader forces his younger brother Salamander into authority before he is ready. He inherits his brother’s wives, assumes responsibility for Owl Clan and is required to marry an enemy’s daughter to secure…
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…
The Chacoan rulers have conquered the First Moon People and built a great house above their communities, enforcing tribute through warriors commanded by Leather Hand. A prophecy from Cold Bringing Woman draws Ripple, Wrapped Wrist, Spots and Bad Cast into a rebellion against a system sustained…
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…
After Koracoo and Gonda recover their children from Gannajero, they learn that Wrass and other captives remain in the child trader’s camp. Their pursuit continues through winter forests where former enemies have also lost children and must decide whether cooperation is possible. A battle-worn Mohawk war…
Twelve summers after the earlier child-captivity crisis, the Iroquoian nations remain divided by warfare. Atotarho, the feared leader of the People of the Hills, expands his power through terror, captive-taking and the destruction of villages, preparing a conflict that could overwhelm the entire region. Odion, Wrass,…
Dekanawida’s message of peace is rejected as Atotarho prepares to destroy the Standing Stone People and then dominate the remaining Iroquoian nations. A violent storm disrupts Atotarho’s attack and gives Dekanawida the authority of a prophet, but it does not end the military threat. Dekanawida turns…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…