Behind the Mic: On The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, Read by the Author

Every Monday through Friday, AudioFile’s editors recommend the best in audiobook listening. We keep our daily episodes short and sweet, with audiobook clips to give you a sample of our featured listens.

Author Louise Erdrich gives a rewarding listening experience based on historical events of the 1950s, when the U.S. government sought to dissolve its treaty with the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation. AudioFile’s Michele Cobb tells host Jo Reed why she enjoyed hearing the characters portrayed by the author herself, and how she was drawn into the minutiae of everyday life as the story’s mounting crisis builds. It is a fictional tale, but the factory night watchman at the center of the story is based on Erdrich’s own grandfather, and his character spends each night writing letters to politicians to maintain the location of his tribe.

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Support for Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine comes from Oasis Audio, publisher of Jolina Petersheim’s How the Light Gets In—a 2020 Audie Awards winner.