During her journey, Patrice encounters abuse and danger. Patrice uses her saved money to look for her sister Vera, who vanished after moving to Minneapolis with her husband. Patrice's alcoholic father comes home sporadically to threaten the family for cash. She works at the jewel bearing plant and earns just enough to help her mother Zhanaat and her brother Pokey. Patrice Paranteau, a young Ojibwe woman and a former high school valedictorian, balances the demands of both modern and traditional life. As Thomas tries to save his tribe from termination, his niece Patrice embarks on a journey to Minneapolis in order to find her sister, Vera. In 1953, Thomas and other Ojibwe people begin to fear the implications of this bill. Thomas Wazhashk, a night watchman at a jewel bearing plant and an Ojibwe Councilor, works to comprehend the consequences of a new termination bill drafted by Arthur Vivian Watkins heading to the floor of the United States Congress. The story switches narrators between other characters in the book to give a different perspective. It is written in third person and follows a number of characters, and in some instances, animals. Alongside the political storyline, readers follow a variety of other characters through daily life on the reservation, family tragedy, boxing matches, and romance. This historical fiction provides detailed descriptions of surroundings and relationships between characters. Erdrich has referred to the letters as ' beautiful, full of humor and storytelling.' She based The Night Watchman on his loving personality and commitment to his tribe. In the letters written by her grandfather detailing his resistance against termination bills meant to assimilate Ojibwe people into broader American society through a variety of means, including the end of federal recognition of the sovereignty of indigenous tribes. In 2021, the novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Night Watchman is the first novel that Erdrich has written that is set on the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

The novel was inspired by the life of Erdrich's grandfather who motivated and inspired other members of the Turtle Mountain Reservation to resist the Indian termination policies of the 1940s-1960s.

This is Erdrich's 6th standalone novel following Future Home of the Living God. The Night Watchman is a novel by Louise Erdrich first published on Maby HarperCollins.

The night watchman book review