Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

A New York Times Notable Book

For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. To further complicate his quiet existence, a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Leopolda's piety and is faced with the most difficult decision: Should he tell all and risk everything . . . or manufacture a protective history though he believes Leopolda's wonder-working is motivated solely by evil?

“Spellbinding…profoundly moving.” Elle

"You will be dazzled by the poetry of her language and her lighteninglike illuminations of the human condition." Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine

"A magnificent storyteller … delivering musical prose charged by powerful metaphors." St. Paul Star-Tribune

"Stunning …a moving meditation … infused with mystery and wonder." Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“A deeply affecting narrative . . . by turns comical and elegiac, farcical, and tragic.” Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"Funny, engrossing and revelatory." Wall Street Journal

“[Erdrichs] best so far…told with such cleverness and compassion that the effect is nothing less than dazzling.” USA Today

"Bold and imaginative." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Louise Erdrich lives with her family in Minnesota and is the owner of Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore. Ms. Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and this story—which will, in the end, span one hundred years in the life of an Ojibwe woman—was inspired when Ms. Erdrich and her mother, Rita Gourneau Erdrich, were researching their own family history. Chickadee begins a new part of the story that started with The Birchbark House, a National Book Award finalist; The Game of Silence, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction; and the acclaimed The Porcupine Year.

Ms. Erdrich is also the bestselling author of many critically acclaimed novels for adults, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves and National Book Award finalist The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. She is also the author of the picture book Grandmother's Pigeon, illustrated by Jim LaMarche.