The Wayfinder

By Adam Johnson and Adam Johnson

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374619573
• ISBN13: 9780374619572
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: MCD
• Length: 736 Pages
• Weight: 1.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Engrossing Read

A truly epic novel set in a past Polynesian empire. The story follows Korero as she endeavors to save her small island from starvation. I was initially somewhat daunted by the size of the book, but once I got into the rhythm of the story it was hard to put down. The author uses a unique blend of historical fiction and magical realism (I love the talking parrot) to create a complex South Pacific odyssey. Recommended for those who have the time to devote to the book, love a complex story, and have an interest in storytelling/myths, and Tonga.

Great time to contemplate the nature of empire

Though it's set a thousand years ago in a place that couldn't be farther from today's USA, its themes of late-stage empire could not be more relevant. Also such strong threads of family, brotherhood, loyalty, home. This book quickly drew me into its world, and every night for the next two months, I looked forward to returning to that world.