Native American author Louise Erdrich’s new novel, set amongst the inhabitants of the Turtle Mountain Reservation, is a welldrawn and sprawling portrait of a community in peril. Based in part on Erdrich’s grandfather’s own efforts in the mid1950s to stop the US government from further taking away Native American land, The Night Watchman tells the story of Thomas Wazhushk’s efforts to fight a bill being put forward by the government to ‘emancipate’ Native Americans from their reservations.

While this setup on paper sounds high stakes and, admittedly, a little dry, The Night Watchman is both kaleidoscopic and languid in its progress. ‘This was again the sort of feeling and thinking that could only be described in Chippewa,’ Erdrich writes at one point, ‘where the strangeness was also humorous and the danger surrounding this sort of situation was of the sort you might laugh at…’

As well as Thomas instigating support throughout the community, the novel also follows a young woman called Patrice on the search in the city for her missing sister, the boxing coach who loves her, one of his younger boxers named Wood Mountain and, additionally, several of the intricate backstories of many of the other Chippewa from the Turtle Mountain reservation. At one point there is a ghost; an owl arrives, signalling death; a character is employed to dance in a water tank in a city bar, dressed as a mythical blue ox.

While this multi-faceted approach runs the risk of being frustrating for readers, the ease with which Erdrich unfurls the story makes The Night Watchman a true pleasure to read, and her vivid descriptions and true affection for her characters is highly infectious, ensuring this novel will be one of the year’s best.

Chris Somerville is part of the online Readings team.