Set mainly in 1950s rural North Dakota, The Night Watchman is a captivating historical fiction centering around a controversial bill about to be put forward to congress. This bill claims to be about emancipation for Native Americans, but in fact aims to take away what little land they already have. One of our main protagonists, Thomas Wazhashk, is a night watchman in a local factory and a prominent Chippewa Council member, using his night shifts to figure out how he can help to fight the bill. Patrice, known as Pixie but trying to reclaim her true name, works at the factory by day and has her own troubles on her mind, with her sister vanished and the remainder of her family to support. As each navigates the challenges facing them, their stories at times converging, we get a vivid portrait of a community and its people at a pivotal point in their history.

I loved this book. It has a great and vividly drawn cast of characters in it. The steadfast and quietly courageous Thomas; the gutsy Patrice; and rich insights into many more characters all around them. There’s dark humour and snappy dialogue between the characters – often due to the strong and no-nonsense women to be found in these pages – but there’s also a more sombre delve into the injustice, the prejudice and the hardships endured by indigenous communities, and themes of identity, autonomy, addiction, violence against women, and people fighting to ensure those coming after them don’t endure the hardships they did. In between all the darker themes are some beautiful moments exploring love; new and young love emerging in the least expected of places, and love that has endured through the decades despite all the challenges faced. I also loved the passages about Chippewa community culture and the earthy spirituality, illuminating the strong connection to land, nature and ancestors, in particular as the looming bill aims to take the land away from them. 

An author’s note reveals the book was influenced by the experiences of Erdrich’s own family, which adds further weight to this vivid portrayal of a time, place, and particular event in history. I’m really looking forward to diving into Erdrich’s archive and reading more by her.

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The Night Watchman was published in 2020 by HarperCollins.

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Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is the author of many novels as well as volumes of poetry, children’s books and a memoir of early motherhood. Her novel The Round House won the National Book Award for Fiction. Love Medicine and LaRose received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and The Night Watchman won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. The Sentence was shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022. Erdrich lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore. A ghost lives in her creaky old house.