About the Book

“Culled from 30 years as one of America’s most distinctive fictional voices . . . 36 affecting and inventive stories that dance around the Faulknerian world she’s created. . . . Within these stories there exist Erdrich’s poetic sentences and humane sensibility—and always another surprise on the next page.” — Boston Globe

A collection of breathtaking power and originality by one of the most innovative and exciting writers of our day

In Louise Erdrich's fictional world, the mystical can emerge from the everyday, the comic can turn suddenly tragic, and violence and splendor inhabit a single emotional landscape. The fantastic twists and leaps of her imagination are made all the more meaningful by the deeper truth of human feeling that underlies them. These thirty-six short works selected by the author herself—including five previously unpublished stories—are ordered chronologically as well as by theme and voice, each tale spellbinding in its boldness and beauty. The Red Convertible is a stunning literary achievement, the collected brilliance of a fearless and inventive writer.

Critical Praise

“A wondrous short story writer…A master tuner of the taut emotions that keen between parent and child, man and woman, brother and sister, man and beast.” — New York Times Book Review

“Erdrich is one of our major writers...and this volume is a good demonstration of her compelling stylistic innovations, not to mention her literary cunning.” — Washington Post Book World

“Erdrich’s stories don’t grow old. They grow more astonishing for how fresh they still feel. . . . You only have to read the first story . . . to get a whiff of authorial wizardry.” — Chicago Tribune

“Culled from 30 years as one of America’s most distinctive fictional voices . . . 36 affecting and inventive stories that dance around the Faulknerian world she’s created. . . . Within these stories there exist Erdrich’s poetic sentences and humane sensibility—and always another surprise on the next page.” — Boston Sunday Globe

“These tales, like the shining car in the title story, have a velocity all their own.” — O magazine

“Louise Erdrich is an immensely satisfying storyteller... She finds grace in action, using the gentlest of language.” — Los Angeles Times

“Erdrich can sketch a novel’s worth of character and incident in just a few pages.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Compiled from 30 years of work, spanning an enormous variety of registers . . . The Red Convertible reveals Erdrich to be one of America’s finest writers of short fiction.” — Dallas Morning News

“Erdrich’s characters are unforgettable... Grade: A.” — Rocky Mountain News

“A collection of brave and inventive stories.” — Ms. magazine

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Product Details

• ISBN: 9780061536083
• ISBN 10: 0061536083
• Imprint: Harper Perennial
• On Sale: 01/19/2010
• Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 1.150 in (d)
• Pages: 512
• List Price: $18.00
• BISAC1 : FICTION / Literary
• BISAC2 : FICTION / Short Stories (single author)
• BISAC3 : FICTION / Native American & Aboriginal