The Sentence starts with Tookie, newly released from prison and working in an independent bookstore. A difficult customer, Flora, has just died and her ghost is haunting the store and Tookie. The story takes place over one year from All Souls’ Day 2019 to the same day in 2020. 

Louise Erdrich knows bookstores, books, and writing. Her expertise in those areas plus her experiences as an Indigenous woman combined to deliver an interesting story and homage to books. 

I love that Erdrich included a book list in the back. The begging of this book about Tookie’s experience leading up to prison and in prison was the best part for me. I also loved the book references. The great writing on a page by page level kept me reading. Mostly this is a well written book that just isn’t for me, with its ghost elements and political stances.