Louise Erdrich — The Master Butcher's Singing Club

Flamingo 2003 Paperback, 389pp. In 1918, Fidelis walks home from the Great War to a Germany broken and defeated. He finds himself inexplicably drawn to the fiancee of his dead best friend and they marry but, knowing he cannot make his fortune here, Fidelis heads for America. When he leaves, 'The inside pockets of his father's suit held all he needed. ' He leaves behind his family of master butchers, but not the skills he has learned from them and in America his sausages gradually become legendary. Moving to small-town America, he is soon joined by his wife and son, opens a deli and life seems to be perfect. But there are always the locals to contend with and when they meet Delphine and Cyprian, two eccentric travelling circus performers, things begin to get interesting. There is the problem of the unresolved dead bodies discovered rotting in the basement of Delphine's father's house, for one. And then there is the rivalry over the local singing groups -- will Fidelis be able to prove his superiority. Some discoloration to page edges otherwise good. (ISBN: 9780007136377). Good.