Shifting Stars

by Page Lambert

Skye is born into a remote world of the unsettled West--her Scottish father a loving but moody mountain man, her mother a Lakota bride taken from her Sioux family by this passionate Highlander. But the steel-springed lunge of a mountain lion tears Skye's mother from her, starting her on a destiny-filled journey. With half-Scottish feet clad in Indian moccasins, Skye walks two separate paths, not knowing whether to believe her father's bitter enemy who calls her a half-breed, or Turtle Woman, her proud Lakota grandmother. "Granddaughter, do not be ashamed. Your blood is like the Fire Without End. And the blood of your children will be like the sacred fire, for no matter how diluted the blood of your descendants becomes, the sacred fire will always burn within their soul. You, my takoja, have become the Keeper of the Flame." Born beneath a comet of shifting stars and bequeathed a warrior's legacy, Skye must learn to wield her father's broadsword. On a journey to the sacred Medicine Wheel, filled with love and revenge, she learns finally that to be a woman warrior has little to do with fighting, and everything to do with spirit.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical

384 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 1997

About the author

Author of the Wyoming memoir In Search of Kinship, and the Wyoming historical novel Shifting Stars, Page Lambert is an advisor for the Rocky Mountain Land Library, member of the International League of Conservation Writers, Colorado Authors’ League, founding member of Women Writing the West, and a longtime member of Wyoming Writers.

She has been writing about the western landscape and leading nature retreats in the West for twenty-two years, including the Literature & Landscape of the Horse retreat held at the Vee Bar Guest Ranch near Laramie.

Lambert's writing can be found inside monumental sculptures at the Denver Art Museum, online at Huffington Post, and inside the pages of dozens of anthologies.

Recently published works include the essay “Not for Sale” (Langscape Magazine, 2018), “The Rural West” (The Light Shines from the West, Fulcrum Books, 2018), and “Deerstalking” (Memoir Magazine, Guns and People Issue, 2018).

Forthcoming works include essays and poems in WAVES: A Confluence of Women's Voices (Room of Her Own Foundation, 2019).

A recipient of two Literary Fellowships from the Wyoming Arts Council, Page designs and teaches graduate writing courses for the University of Denver’s Professional Creative Writing Master’s Program.

She writes the popular blog All Things Literary/All Things Natural from her mountain home west of Denver, Colorado.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Page Lambert’s book, Shifting Star, is a beautifully crafted story showing the nature of combining two worlds, the Lakota and the Highland Scots. The story starts and ends with poems from both the Highlands and the Lakota. Mrs. Lambert has created a dynamic adventure of a young girl, conceived between the worlds of her mother and father. She is a prophecies’ child the combination of air and earth. She is to become the keeper of the flame. The book has a long history, from the birth of the grandmother under a falling star, to the great grandchild who again was born beneath the returning shooting star. Skye and her grandmother Turtle woman are forced by the unprecedented deaths of Skye’s father and grandfather to solve the mysterious connection between the Lakota and a neighboring Kangi. Throughout the story the parallels of the Lakota and the Highlands is marked by the deaths of women and children, and seizure of the land by greed, and violence. This is a book to open your heart to the plight of the Native American, and the repetitive nature of history.

[Cindy Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Loved Loved this book. Just the way I like a book full of history with a little romance laced through.

[Sherrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

once again due to the Indian theme....my kind of book

[Shawn Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good

[Faith Justice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one started slow, but grew on me. I was expecting a more adventurous tale but it was more of an internal growth/coming of age story. Lambert obviously did a tremendous amount of research for the book and it shows - sometimes too much and slows down the narrative. My favorite character is the one we meet in the prologue - Turtle Woman. She's the strongest and best fleshed out, even though it's not exactly her story. The "bad guys" are more stereotyped, although Lambert does give them some back story as explanation for their actions.

[Rebecca Lawton · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Shifting Stars, Page Lambert has written a unique work of lyrical prose. It's a page-turner, one I rushed to read in every spare moment until the beautiful, complex, and satisfying ending. A deep, meaningful, enjoyable read.

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful reading. A profound, spiritual story of love and revenge, the frontier and the tragedy of White Man’s impact on Native American culture, but also, how tragedy of man-conquering-man has been a universal occurrence in all cultures.

[Lucy Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historically authentic book about the Lakotas in the 1850's, interesting but plot was predictable.