Leandro Thomas Gonzales

Follow the Spinning Sun Leandro Thomas Gonzales

Nominated for the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, - an award presented to a novel which makes a lasting contribution to excellence in world literature. 

Follow the Spinning Sun explores why the Tyuoni tribe abandoned their homeland in what is now the Bandelier National Monument.  The wonder of living in such an extraordinary time and place will provoke interest in the age-old mystery of what really happened to the Anasazi.

Jopin, an eighty year-old elder desperate for an answer, embarks on a prayer quest that takes him on a chain of events which will unveil the fate of Tyuoni. Deer-tracker, his pre-teen grandson, and Knee-nose, a young spotted deer, help Jopin deal with Chief Salamander's questionable actions and motives as the tribe journeys on a treacherous and intriguing odyssey.

The author strives to demonstrate how a significant religious event could have influenced the people to abandon their majestic village, join the Great Migration, and follow the spinning sun to their new homeland, even though popular belief purports that the Anasazi vanished because of war, severe drought, or famine.