What happens when a trained killer discovers, in the aftermath of war, that his true vocation is love? Having survived the killing fields of World War I, Fidelis Waldvogel returns home to his quiet German village and marries the pregnant widow of his best friend, killed in action. With a suitcase full of sausages and a master butcher's precious set of knives, Fidelis sets out for America and settles in Argus, North Dakota. Over the years he works hard, building a business, a family, and a singing club consisting of the best voices in town. When Delphine Watzka, a daughter of Argus, meets Fidelis, the ground trembles. This momentous encounter changes the course of their lives, and determines the trajectory of this brilliant new book by one of America's most acclaimed novelists.
Award-winning author Louise Erdrich's Ojibwa-German heritage lends an autobiographical flavor to the post-WWI saga of Fidelis Waldvogel (faithful forest bird). Fidelis, patterned after her grandfather, is a butcher with a beautiful singing voice. Erdrich narrates with expressive intimacy, bringing authenticity to the exceptional people who populate Argus, North Dakota. After Fidelis, with wife Eva, sets up a butcher shop and founds his cherished singing club, Eva meets and befriends Delphine Watzka. Delphine has returned to Argus to nurse her ailing alcoholic father. She had left years before and became a "human table" for a circus balancing act. It is Delphine and Eva's friendship that forms the beating heart of the novel. A master storyteller, Erdrich creates charismatic characters, and her reading makes each distinctly memorable. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Louise Erdrich is the author of 11 novels as well as volumes of poetry, children's books, and a memoir of early motherhood. Her novels include Love Medicine, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; Four Souls, and the national bestseller The Master Butchers Singing Club, the latter two available as Sound Library® audiobooks. She lives in Minnesota with her daughters.
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The Master Butchers Singing Club
by Louise Erdrich
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