Love Medicine

American author Louise Erdrich’s debut novel, Love Medicine, was first published in 1984 to critical acclaim. A bestseller and winner of the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the novel follows three generations of members from five Ojibwe families in Minnesota and North Dakota. Lyrical, metaphorical, and a complex exploration of oppression, joy, and family, the novel is both a record of history and an analysis of love. Blending the genres of historical fiction and literary fiction, Love Medicine is structured as a series of interconnected short stories that engage the reader in philosophical thought about the authoritative power of institutions and the power of the individual to embrace joy and resilience. Erdrich revised and published several versions of the novel.

Erdrich is the author of 28 books, including novels, poetry, fiction, children’s books, and non-fiction. Erdrich received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2021 for her novel The Night Watchman. An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, a federally recognized Ojibwa tribe for Indigenous Americans of mixed heritage, Erdrich is considered one of the most influential writers of the Native American Renaissance.

Please be advised that Love Medicine depicts substance use, self-harm, and domestic violence.