Four Souls

Louise Erdrich returns to her perennial character Fleur Pillager to tell a story of vengeance. Determined to kill a man named John James Mauser, the wealthy, underhanded developer who long ago stole her land in North Dakota, she gets a job in his Minneapolis home as a laundress. When she discovers that Mauser is actually an invalid, she knows she needs to make him well enough to be murdered. As she accomplishes this, their relationship takes a strange turn, and Fleur's impulse to revenge is more complicated than she thought. Deeply embedded in Erdrich's ongoing saga about the Ojibwe people (now nine volumes long), FOUR SOULS draws deeply on characters and events from Fleur's history and that of her people. A New York Times Notable Book for 2004. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.