The Plague of Doves ( P.S.) (Reprint) (Paperback) by Louise Erdrich

About the Book

This bestselling work tells the quintessentially American story of the unsolved murder of a farm family that haunts the small, white town of Pluto, North Dakota, as well as the nearby Ojibwe reservation.

Book Synopsis

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, The Plague of Doves--the first part of a loose trilogy that includes the National Book Award-winning The Round House and LaRose--is a gripping novel about a long-unsolved crime in a small North Dakota town and how, years later, the consequences are still being felt by the community and a nearby Native American reservation.

Though generations have passed, the town of Pluto continues to be haunted by the murder of a farm family. Evelina Harp--part Ojibwe, part white--is an ambitious young girl whose grandfather, a repository of family and tribal history, harbors knowledge of the violent past. And Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, who bears witness, understands the weight of historical injustice better than anyone. Through the distinct and winning voices of three unforgettable narrators, the collective stories of two interwoven communities ultimately come together to reveal a final wrenching truth.

Bestselling author Louise Erdrich delves into the fraught waters of historical injustice and the impact of secrets kept too long.

From the Back Cover

The unsolved murder of a farm family still haunts the white small town of Pluto, North Dakota, generations after the vengeance exacted and the distortions of fact transformed the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation.

Part Ojibwe, part white, Evelina Harp is an ambitious young girl prone to falling hopelessly in love. Mooshum, Evelina's grandfather, is a repository of family and tribal history with an all-too-intimate knowledge of the violent past. And Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, who bears witness, understands the weight of historical injustice better than anyone. Through the distinct and winning voices of three unforgettable narrators, the collective stories of two interwoven communities ultimately come together to reveal a final wrenching truth.

Review Quotes

"An intricate tale of heartbreak and humor . . . wondrous novel. . . . What marks these stories . . . .is what has always set Erdrich apart and made her work seem miraculous: the jostling of pathos and comedy. . . .Sit down and listen carefully."--Washington Post Book World

"Erdrich's latest novel...is so natural you forget there's a writer behind it...Instantly gripping..."--Marie Claire

"A multigenerational tour de force of sin, redemption, murder and vengeance"--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Mesmerizing... Erdrich ...communicate[s] the complexity and the mystery of human relationships."--Booklist (starred review)

"A lush, multilayered book...The magic lies in the details of Erdrich's ever-replenishing mythology."--Kirkus Reviews

"One can only marvel...at Erdrich's amazing ability to do what so few of us can - shape words into phrases and sentences of incomparable beauty that, then, pour forth a mesmerizing story."--USA Today

"The stories told by [Erdrich's] characters offer pleasures of language, of humor, of sheer narrative momentum, that shine even in the darkest moments of the book."--Boston Globe

"To read Louise Erdrich's thunderous new novel is to leap headlong into the fiery imagination of a master storyteller...a rich, colorful mosaic of tales that twist and turn for decades..."--Miami Herald

"[Erdrich's] accomplishment in these pages is Tolstoy-like: to render human particularity so meticulously and with such fierce passion as to convey the great, glittering movement of time."--San Francisco Chronicle

"...at once mythic and down-to-earth...beautiful, funny, moving, and unexpected."--Elle

"Writing in prose that combines the magical sleight of hand of Gabriel García Márquez with the earthy, American rhythms of Faulkner...[Ms. Erdrich] has written what is arguably her most ambitious--and in many ways, her most deeply affecting--work yet."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"Louise Erdrich's imaginative freedom has reached its zenith--The Plague of Doves is her dazzling masterpiece."--Philip Roth

"Erdrich deftly weaves past and present, and her literary territory is as intricate as Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County."--MORE Magazine

"Erdrich has demonstrated a rare ability to create vibrant, wholly original characters and to describe nature in a prose so lyrical it becomes poetry. 'The Plague of Doves' is proof that she has yet to exhaust her powerful magic."--Hartford Courant

"Erdrich is in top form here..."--Time Out New York

"Wholly felt and exquisitely rendered tales of memory and magic...an intricate tapestry that deeply satisfies the mind, the heart, and the spirit."--Pam Houston, O, The Oprah Magazine