The Birchbark House Quotes

“Where was I?"
"A different island," said old Tallow. Her voice was stern, but there was an ache in her look that Omakayas had never before seen. "An island called Spirit Island where everyone but you died of the itching sickness- you were the toughest one, the littlest one, and you survived them all."

"You were sent here so you could save the others," she said. "Because you'd had the sickness, you were strong enough to nurse them through it. They did a good thing when they took you in, and you saved them for their good act. Now the circle that began when I found you is complete.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Birchbark House

“Why were they talking all at once?" Omakayas wondered.

Nokomis thought for a while. "I think they talk to each other all the time," she said, "but our minds are not always peaceful enough to hear them.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Birchbark House

“The strong old woman was walking away, and in her step there was the sadness of parting with an old but dangerously foolish friend.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Birchbark House

“Angeline bravely smashed the little piece”
― Louise Erdrich, The Birchbark House

“Although she lived in town, Old Tallow was so isolated by the force and strangeness of her personality that she could have been surrounded by a huge dark forest. She had never had any children, and each of her three husbands had slunk off in turn during the night, never to be seen again. Nobody knew exactly what it was that Tallow, in her younger days, had done to drive them off. It had probably been something terrible. After the last husband left, her face seemed to have gotten old suddenly, though the rest of her hadn’t weakened. She was a rangy woman over six feet in height. She was powerful, lean, and lived surrounded by ferocious animals more wolf than dog.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Birchbark House