The Round House, by Louise Erdrich

Erdrich’s novel puts faces to an issue that obviously is a particular cause of hers – the difficulties Native American women on reservations have getting justice after sexual attacks in the confusing web of the conflicting US and Native jurisdictions and legal systems.   Thirteen year old Joe’s mother, Geraldine, is viciously attacked and unwilling to talk about it or leave her bed.  Her husband, a tribal judge, feels helpless.   Joe and his three friends undertake their own investigation of the crime with devastating results.  The novel recently won the National Book Award and has been called, justifiably, the “Native-American To kill a mockingbird.”  One of her best.    336 pp.