The Plague of Doves - Hardcover

Erdrich, Louise

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060515120 ISBN 13: 9780060515126

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2008

Synopsis

Unaware of a violent event that marked the beginning of her mixed ancestry, ambitious young Evelina Harp, a part-Ojibwe, part-white girl prone to falling hopelessly in love, learns disturbing truths from her gifted storyteller grandfather, while a sentimental judge weighs the legacy of a century-old crime as reflected by his own love life. By the author of The Painted Drum. 125,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

‘Louise Erdrich’s imaginative freedom has reached its zenith – ‘The Plague of Doves’ is her dazzling masterpiece.’ Philip Roth

'A masterly new novel ... Writing in prose that combines the magical sleight of hand of Gabriel Garcia Marquez 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

‘Confirms her reputation as a writer able to combine the apocalyptic with the mundane world whose inhabitants are set loose to roam the heavens in spirit but are ballasted always by their defiantly human bodies.' Observer

'You could read Louise Erdrich's latest book for its wisdom ... Or you could read ‘The Plague of Doves’ for its poetry ... in the end, you’ll read this book for its stories ... The stories told by her characters offer pleasures of language, of humor, of sheer narrative momentum, that shine even in the darkest moments of the book.' Boston Globe

'Wholly felt and exquisitely rendered tales of memory and magic ... By the novel’s end, and in classic Erdrich fashion, every luminous fragment has been assembled into an intricate tapestry that deeply satisfies the mind, the heart, and the spirit.' O magazine

From the Back Cover:

Louise Erdrich's mesmerizing new novel, her first in almost three years, centers on a compelling mystery. The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation. The descendants of Ojibwe and white intermarry, their lives intertwine; only the youngest generation, of mixed blood, remains unaware of the role the past continues to play in their lives.

Evelina Harp is a witty, ambitious young girl, part Ojibwe, part white, who is prone to falling hopelessly in love. Mooshum, Evelina's grandfather, is a seductive storyteller, a repository of family and tribal history with an all-too-intimate knowledge of the violent past. Nobody understands the weight of historical injustice better than Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, a thoughtful mixed blood who witnesses the lives of those who appear before him, and whose own love life reflects the entire history of the territory. In distinct and winning voices, Erdrich's narrators unravel the stories of different generations and families in this corner of North Dakota. Bound by love, torn by history, the two communities' collective stories finally come together in a wrenching truth revealed in the novel's final pages.

The Plague of Doves is one of the major achievements of Louise Erdrich's considerable oeuvre, a quintessentially American story and the most complex and original of her books.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0060515120
• ISBN 13: 9780060515126
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 313