Future Home of the Living God

A Novel

By: Louise Erdrich

Narrated by: Louise Erdrich

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Louise Erdrich, the New York Times best-selling, National Book Award-winning author of LaRose and The Round House, paints a startling portrait of a young woman fighting for her life and her unborn child against oppressive forces that manifest in the wake of a cataclysmic event.

The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backward, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Thirty-two-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.

Though she wants to tell the adoptive parents who raised her from infancy, Cedar first feels compelled to find her birth mother, Mary Potts, an Ojibwe living on the reservation, to understand both her and her baby's origins. As Cedar goes back to her own biological beginnings, society around her begins to disintegrate, fueled by a swelling panic about the end of humanity.

There are rumors of martial law, of Congress confining pregnant women. Of a registry, and rewards for those who turn these wanted women in. Flickering through the chaos are signs of increasing repression: a shaken Cedar witnesses a family wrenched apart when police violently drag a mother from her husband and child in a parking lot. The streets of her neighborhood have been renamed with Bible verses. A stranger answers the phone when she calls her adoptive parents, who have vanished without a trace. It will take all Cedar has to avoid the prying eyes of potential informants and keep her baby safe.

A chilling dystopian novel both provocative and prescient, Future Home of the Living God is a startlingly original work from one of our most acclaimed writers: a moving meditation on female agency, self-determination, biology, and natural rights that speaks to the troubling changes of our time.

©2017 Louise Erdrich (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Louise Erdrich narrates her novel in a quiet voice that belies its power to convey her devastating and heart-wrenching story.... Erdrich's intimate narration seems as though one is hearing Cedar recount her story herself.... Erdrich devastates with her story as she projects Cedar's strength, convictions, and pain as she fights for control over her body and the destiny of her unborn child." (AudioFile)

what a bummer

Erdrich is one of my favorite authors but this one is just too dark for my taste. Well drawn dystopian world and characters, though.

Loved it. Loved hearing Erdrich read her work

Loved this book so very much. No sugar coating, but so much sweetness. The beloved main characters, the conflict, the mix of indigenous and Catholic lore and values in a corrupt Christian dystopia- so beautiful, and so appropriate for our time. Thank you Louise Erdrich. What a great gift.

What a Story!!

Beautifully written, amazing journey, vivid characters, ending was good, but left much to be desired!

Deeply beautiful

Outstanding in all ways. The prose itself is stunning, so artful. The author narrates as the rich, living voice of the protagonist. And the content, the story and themes, strike a place deep inside where pain and beauty meet.

sci fi at it's most chilling best

this book is superb. near time sci fi is something I have little experience with. louise writes like laurie Anderson sings. very subtle, low key but whammo. it knocks me over.
she has a way of creating a terrifying future that is so .... normal.

A timely story

Another great novel by Erdrich. I love that she reads for the audible version because she is such a powerful reader. The story is chilling in our current political mess.

loved it, would be a great movie .

it was well read and interesting story I can't wait for there to be a movie made about this definitely one of the best sci-fi books I've read this year

Absolutely incredible

There are so many moments in this novel that are incredibly profound and even transcendent- the big questions are explored with reverence, an eye towards great beauty, an empathetic understanding of the human experience, and a rye sense of humor.

Only what is necessary

This is a beautifully written book. Through a first-person narrative, the near future catastrophe reveals itself, especially relating to pregnant women. Though I’d like to know more of what was happening to society, it was not necessary to tell this specific story. The author is masterful at filling the scene with only what is necessary. I don’t always like the author reading their own book. In this case, it fit perfectly.

aces all around

loved this story and I found the ending to be brave.
I love science fiction and this futuristic story with Minnesota references and Native peoples perspective is fabulous.
I like the way this narrative explains life as we know it through letters. i am looking forward to "reading " more from the author. I am thankful for your work and love your reading to me.