LaRose

LaRose is set on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota, the same setting as Louise Erdrich’s earlier novel The Round House. Landreaux Iron accidentally shoots and kills Dusty, his neighbours’ five-year-old son, while hunting. Following an ancient custom, he and his wife, Emmaline, give their own young son, LaRose, to the bereaved parents, Peter and Nola.

The couple are reluctant at first but warm to the boy. The novel also tells the stories of several of LaRose’s ancestors, including the first in the family to bear the name.