For more than half a century Father Damien Modeste has served his belovedpeople the Ojibwe on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now nearingthe end of h... » 

For more than half a century Father Damien Modeste has served his belovedpeople the Ojibwe on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now nearingthe end of his life he dreads the discovery of his physical identity for heis a woman who has lived as a man. He imagines the undoing of all he hasaccomplished unions sundered baptisms nullified those who confessed to himonce again unforgiven. To complicate his fears his quiet life changes when atroubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of theperplexing difficult possibly false saint Sister Leopolda.Father Damiensstory encompasses his life as a woman her passions and the pestilence tribalhatreds and sorrows passed from generation to generation of Ojibwe. In amasterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels seton the same reservation Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and thespirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as apriest. «