Book of the Week #19

The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich (Harper Collins, 2005)

Louise Erdrich was a member of the first co-ed class at Dartmouth (in 1972) and served as writer in residence there in 1981. This novel includes some of Erdrich's familiar Ojibwe characters, but the focus of the story is a woman running an estate business in New Hampshire.

"Late summer builds to a steamy and forgiving lushness in New Hampshire. There is the crushing scent of heated earth. The audible drinking of taproots of white pines. Maples sucking deep. Best, there is the threatful joy of
blackberries ... " (p. 77)

Louise Erdrich will be the guest May 14th on Writers on a New England Stage.