“Spirits Do Not Rest: Heartbreak at Wounded Knee” is a 2025 historical novel reimagining the Wounded Knee Massacre through the eyes of a young teacher fleeing scandal, set against the backdrop of 1890s Pine Ridge.

Margaret Lukas is a retired writing instructor from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is a long-standing member of the National Association of Pen Women, Inc., and past president of the Omaha Branch.

An author signing will be followed by a light reception.

Free and open to the public.

Overview from Amazon.com:

Spirits Do Not Rest: Heartbreak at Wounded Knee is Margaret Lukas’ fourth novel. It is a re-telling of the Wounded Knee Massacre, in which over 350 Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Lakota were brutally murdered. The story blends historical fiction with themes of injustice, survival, and resilience.

From the author’s website (https://margaretlukas.com/):

1890. People are fleeing South Dakota due to rumors of Sioux uprisings and Ghost Dancing. Army troops arrive in numbers the U.S. hasn’t deployed since the Civil War. Newspapers across the country are fomenting prejudice and fear. The country waits for war. Twenty-two-year-old Lauder risks it all, leaving her home to teach at a reservation day school

Plot Summary (Amazon.com):

When twenty-two-year-old  Lauder Ellison finds herself about to be exposed for plagiarism in a national magazine, she flees her teaching position in Omaha for a small Lakota day school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  The year is 1890, and people are fleeing the area due to rumors of Sioux uprisings and Ghost Dancing, both of which have resulted in a massive buildup of army troops. Newspapers across the country are fomenting prejudice and fear. The country waits for war. 

Lauder finds a sanctuary and love amongst the Lakota, especially the starving children in her classroom and a man trying desperately to save the children from being torn from their families and shipped across the U.S. to Indian boarding schools. No one imagines the horror rising on the cusp.