277 pages
English language
Published April 30, 2005 by HarperCollins.
When Faye Travers is called upon to appraise the estate of a family in her small New Hampshire town, she isn't surprised to discover a forgotten cache of valuable Native American artifacts. However, she stops dead in her tracks when she finds a rare drum, for without touching the instrument she hears its sound. From Faye's discovery, we trace the drum's passage both backward and forward in time and discover how it changes the lives of those whose paths it crosses.
I've read three books by Erdrich - two fiction, one not. Of these, I enjoyed 'The Painted Drum' the most. The changes of narrator threw me at first, but she brings it back around in the end, and ultimately I think each voice is best for the particular part of the tale it tells.
