One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels • Winner of the National Book Award
"Deeply moving, this novel ranks among Erdrich’s best work, and it is impossible to forget.” — USA Today
In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, HarperCollins is proud to present this library of American classics drawn from our storied catalog. The Round House, by Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich, is an exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that forever transforms his family.
One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface because Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared.
While his father, a tribal judge, endeavors to wrest justice from a situation that defies his efforts, Joe becomes frustrated with the official investigation and sets out with his trusted friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus, 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, but is only the beginning.
A page-turning masterpiece from one of the most revered novelists of our time, The Round House is at once a powerful coming-of-age story, a mystery, and a tender, moving novel of family, history, and culture.
