The Sentence

Louise Erdrich is the rarest kind of writer, as compassionate as she is sharp-sighted -- Anne Tyler
A novel that reckons with ghosts - of both specific people but also the shadows resulting from America's violent, dark habits * Kirkus (starred review) *
Scintillating . . . More than a gripping ghost story, The Sentence offers profound insights into the effects of the global pandemic and the collateral damage of systemic racism. It adds up to one of Erdrich's most . . . illuminating works to date * Publishers Weekly (Starred review) *
Erdrich is one of the greatest living American writers * Guardian *
The poet laureate of the contemporary Native American experience * Mail on Sunday *
No one can break your heart and fill it with light all in the same book - sometimes in the same paragraph - quite like Louise Erdrich * Tampa Bay Times *
'Strange, enchanting and funny: a work about motherhood, doom, regret and the magic - dark, benevolent and every shade in between - of words on paper' * The New York Times *
'The story is, perhaps above all, about the peace available to us in books like this' * The New Yorker *
'[Tookie's] journey, captured in Erdrich's expert prose, is a cathartic and comforting story that book lovers will gobble up' * Real Simple *
'Erdrich writes with conviction' * TLS *
[A[ powerful, endearing novel . . . [The Sentence] resolves in small moments of personal redemption and familial love, allowing for hope amid tragedy -- Erica Wagner * Guardian *
'Promises to be both funny and profound' * Daily Mail *
'As the owner of a store herself, Erdrich knows whereof she writes, and her off-beat ghost story is in part a love letter to books and the shops that sell them. It also captures with compelling fidelity a year of personal and national dread and anguish - yet still pulls off a happy ending' * Daily Mail *
'Erdrich's exploration of racial appropriation, and her treatment of such forgery as the stuff of horror, is fascinating. Tookie feels the ghost of Flora breathing in her ear - "let me in" - and at one point, trying to claw her way inside Tookie's body' * Independent *
'Literature lovers will savour the conversations between booksellers and their customers...Erdrich depicts white privilege while at the same time confirming identity politics is never straightforward' * Literary Review *
'A delight, a thought-provoking work of art' * The Independent *
The real and the supernatural lock eyes in the deeply layered, immersive novel * Irish Times *
Masterfully written... tackle[s] [a] serious subject matter but also deliver[s] witty writing that makes you laugh out loud * Guardian *
Words still offer solace in this richly layered novel by Erdrich * Daily Mail Must Reads *
[A] powerful, endearing novel -- Erica Wagner * Guardian *
'Few novels capture their times as well as this' * The New European *