By Jacob Jurss
I love libraries. The pandemic has brought this into stark relief. While an introvert, libraries have always provided a safe place for me to sit, think, and engage in my community. Of course, there are the books whose pages have allowed me to time travel and have often offered an escape from daily stressors.
I’ve been exploring my home library more during this time, rediscovering titles I’ve been meaning to read that get pushed down my list by the new novels. Over the past few week’s I’ve been diving into our family’s collection of Louise Erdrich’s titles.
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: A Novel (HarperCollins 2016) most recently emerged to the surface of my pile. The plot spins around Father Modeste whose letters to Rome regarding the actions of a Sister Leopolda have brought an investigator from the Church to find if her actions qualify her for sainthood. The story spirals around Father Modeste’s life and how he (or is it she?) came to reside and work on this Ojibwe reservation.
The novel is filled with different kinds of love, connection, mystery and searches for a sense of self. It reminds me, as a historian, how many stories lay beneath the surface of each person’s life.