Epic in scope, epic in size and epic in ambition: The Wayfinder, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Adam Johnson, is a masterful and immersive wonder of a novel, one that – despite its heft – I raced through in a matter of days. Set hundreds of years ago, at the height of the Tongan empire in the South Pacific, it focuses on two groups of people – Korero and her people, on the brink of starvation on their isolated island, and the family of the Tongan leader, engaged both in a feud amongst themselves and a wider war across the region – whose fates become intertwined across the seas. Blending myth, storytelling, and historical fact, and touching on themes of over-consumption, power, family, and individual autonomy, The Wayfinder is brilliantly realised and impeccably researched. It is a mark of Johnson’s skill that he makes a story so remote in time and geography feel wholly alive and relevant to today’s world. Highly recommended.
The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson, (List Price: $30, MCD, 9780374619572, October 2025)
Reviewed by Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi