The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party

Daniel James Brown

Apr 2009 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

From the #1 bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat and Facing the Mountain comes an unforgettable epic of family, tragedy, and survival on the American frontier

“An ideal pairing of talent and material.… Engrossing.… A deft and ambitious storyteller.” — Mary Roach, New York Times Book Review

In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes, and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

In this gripping narrative, New York Times bestselling author Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most legendary events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah’s journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.

Ratings and reviews

I first wrote a review after the first fifty pages. Unfortunately I had to change after I was halfway through the book. Where do I begin? The editing was poor. If I had to read the term" from time to time" again, I felt like I would scream. More importantly, I realize that this ordeal was hideous but what was the point in describing horrible events over and over again? Why write that Sarah would " vomit green bile..." Couldn't author have left his description of this at simply " vomit"? If at all? He went completely overboard in his useless descriptions of these people and their deeds and possible reasons for committing them. And the supposed medical reasons for both the cannibalism and their descent into physical hell of their health bordered on 1950's journalism. Could have been a much better book without the extensive gore.

This piece has a lot of heart. Though details are sparse due to the era and circumstance, the author fills that space beautifully by following the Donner Party's path across America. As he describes the land on which they walked and explains how weather patterns doomed these early westward travelers, he also makes some tender and insightful observations about life, love, and inevitable death in an age of uncertainty. *Contains requisite, but respectful descriptions of exceedingly graphic content.*

Great book! I crossed the plains of the Midwest amongst the tall prairie grass, I climbed up the Wasatch and staggered my way across searing deserts. I will never look at the Sierra Nevada mountains the same way.

About the author

Daniel James Brown is the author of The Boys in the Boat and Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894. He lives in the country east of Redmond, Washington, with his wife and two daughters.