Spirit Journey: Sunshine’s Song

I’m thrilled to share a little glimpse into my next book, Spirit Journey; Sunshine’s Song—the second in my Native American trilogy.

This story follows Sunshine, the daughter of Brave Eagle, as she navigates a life shaped by love, loss, and cultural transformation in the late 1800s. After marrying mountain man Joe Morgan, Sunshine begins a journey that will test her strength, beliefs, and identity. Her path is one of resilience and grace, set against the complex backdrop of Lakota life on the Plains.

This novel is especially close to my heart, as it continues the legacy begun in Journey of the Cheyenne Warrior. I’ve poured countless hours into researching the spiritual practices, daily life, and struggles of the Lakota people to ensure the world I’m writing feels both respectful and real. From learning the traditional crafts to exploring the dynamics of intertribal relations and frontier life, this story weaves together fact and fiction in the way I love best—honoring history while bringing it to life through deeply human characters.

This is a story of love
The love of a woman for her people, the love of a woman for her family, the love of a mother for her sons, and most of all, the love of a grandmother for her granddaughter. She watches and waits for her husband and sons to return from the fight at greasy grass, Little Big Horn, with General Custer. After sending her granddaughter off on a steam ship she endures several years of waiting for her to return from Carlisle Boarding School, never hearing how she is, or if she is still alive. One day a beautiful young woman Sunshine does not recognize comes back to her. She is overjoyed.

It is a story of survival. This brave, plain woman knows the struggle of rearing two so different sons, white men who try every way they can to take their land through treaties and cunning lies, she knows sadness and tragedy, fights and massacres at the hands of the soldiers. Yet, she also knows the beauty of the animals and land of the Lakota, laughter, stories, and songs with her sisters, the love of her husband, the preciousness of her granddaughter and family. She endures the take-over of the whites, the hope of the Ghost Dancing, the futility at Wounded Knee, the most horrific of all the tragedies. Thies is her song.

This is also about her half breed son, Black Pipe, with green eyes and brown hair, who is jealous of his dark-skinned brother and wants more than anything to be a brace Lakota warrior whose name will be known and feared by all. His dream is to follow Black Elk, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Sitting Bull into battles.

And a granddaughter who persevered five years of boarding school where they tried to take away her name and identity. Their lives mattered. It all comes together at Wounded Knee.