Based on the extraordinary life of Louise Erdrich’s grandfather --- who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C. --- this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity, and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.

In this literary masterwork, Louise Erdrich, the bestselling author of the National Book Award-winning THE ROUND HOUSE and the Pulitzer Prize nominee THE PLAGUE OF DOVES, wields her breathtaking narrative magic in an emotionally haunting contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in Native American culture.

The victim of a recent attack, Geraldine Coutts is reluctant to relive or reveal to anyone what happened. She will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Her son, Joe, becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends to get some answers of his own. Their quest takes them first to the Round House, a sacred space and place of worship for the Ojibwe. And this is only the beginning.