Louise Erdrich's latest novel, Future Home of the Living God, is a suspenseful and topical story, covering themes including reproductive rights, the treatment of Native Americans, and religious intolerance.
Cedar Songmaker is a young, pregnant woman eagerly anticipating motherhood while at the same time in fear for her own survival and that of her baby. The book takes the form of a journal she is writing to her unborn child, recounting the events leading up to its birth, in case she does not live to tell the tale in person. The reason? Many biological organisms are no longer developing as expected. Scientists aren't sure exactly what is happening—evolution is described as running backward or sideways, and the government's response is increasingly autocratic.
Cedar seeks out her Native American birth mother in order to find out about any genetic diseases in her family, and in the process she is forced to come to terms with the truth of her own origins and her adoptive white parents. Cedar is a spirited protagonist and her personal situation, as well as the environmental and societal changes surrounding it, cause her to question who and what she can trust and to take drastic measures to keep her freedom.