Your child is not your own…

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“In English there was a word for every object. In Ojibwe there was a word for every action.” LaRose

What would you do if you accidentally killed a child? And not a stranger, not a family you would never see again, but the child of your friend, the child of your family.

A modern mutigenerational masterpiece from Louise Erdrich-Two families are torn apart by a horrible hunting accident. One family’s patriarch accidentally kills the son of his friend, next door neighbor and family by marriage. LaRose is the best friend of the little boy who was killed. His parents decide that to make things right, they have to give LaRose to the family who lost their child.

What ensues is a beautiful novel of gutting heartbreak, family secrets, family history, healing, hope, and human resilience. Part of a trilogy, this novel stands firmly on its own. Woven into the present day narrative of two families, one sending their children to reservation school, one family sending their kids to non-tribal schools both living between the two worlds, is the story of the first LaRose and her journey as one who could see more than others. The fifth LaRose, the son who is shared, will continue this tradition of seeing more, knowing more, and ultimately save them all.

Louse Erdrich has created another layered woven story of beauty where each thread contributes to the final design.

LaRose gives the drug of storytelling readers crave. One of my best reads this year!-Book Club Advisor

Image North Country Public Radio