The Round House

Likely to be dubbed the Native American To Kill a Mockingbird, Louise Erdrich s moving, complex, and surprisingly uplifting new novel tells of a boy s coming of age in the wake of a brutal, racist attack on his mother. Drawn from real-life statistics about racially inspired attacks on our country s reservations, this tale is forceful but never preachy, thanks in large part to Erdrich s understated but glorious prose and her apparent belief in the redemptive power of storytelling. --Sara Nelson