In her first novel, Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich reveals a fascinating world of Native Americans living in contemporary America. Her characters are simultaneously gritty, delicate and real. Twenty-one years and 11 books later, her characters are no less fascinating and their stories no less compelling, as evidenced in her remarkable new novel.

The Painted Drum is written in four parts. The first part, "Revival Road," is narrated by Faye, a woman of mixed Native American descent. She lives in New Hampshire, far from the North Dakota reservation where her grandmother was born. She and her mother, Elsie, live a quiet life handling estates: They are hired to appraise and auction off the contents.

When a neighbor, John Jewett Tatro, dies (in a spectacular fashion, by the way), Faye is called to appraise the contents of his house. She tries not to be excited. But she is a specialist in Native American antiquities, and she thinks she may find a collection of artifacts - and maybe even a personal connection.

Tatro's grandfather was an Indian agent on the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. He was the person who sent Faye's grandmother East. As Faye begins her work, she takes out a notebook to catalog items. In the hall closet, she discovers her first Native American artifact: a doll made from cured hide with beautiful, coarse black hair.

"From her pierced fawnskin ears dangle miniature earbobs that are hawk's bells so unusually small that they could hang from the throats of warblers," writes Erdrich.

Erdrich's descriptions are lovely throughout the book. Her eye for detail is especially amazing when describing Native American artifacts. And the Tatro house turns out to be a treasure-trove: Faye discovers birch bark baskets, moccasins, leggings and tobacco pouches. And then there is the drum. "Some people believe objects absorb some of their owner's essence," says Faye. "I stay clear of that. And yet, when I step near the drum, I swear it sounds. One deep, low resonant note."

The drum is Faye's connection back to the Ojibwe. Impulsively, she steals it. She rationalizes the theft to her mother, saying that Tatro must have stolen the drum in the first place, and that she intends to return it to its home.

The second part of The Painted Drum is narrated by Bernard Shaawano, of the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. In this part of the book, Bernard tells the history of the drum to Faye and her mother. He begins his tale in a beautiful oral style: "Among the Anishinaabeg on the road where I live," he says, "it is told how a woman loved a man other than her husband, and went off into the bush and bore his child."

Bernard's story is captivating: full of betrayal, death and supernatural phenomenon. Even the details of traditional Ojibwe life are intriguing. There were hardly any roads at the time, Bernard says, just trails, but the Ojibwe had horses and wagons and sleds for the winter. The weather was treacherous and the wolves gaunt and hungry.

The only downfall of Bernard's story is that it's difficult to keep the characters straight. He jumps back and forth in time, and it takes concentration to remember whether he's talking about his grandfather or father and to make the connections between the various Ojibwe families (though the effort is well worth it).

The third part of the novel, titled "The Little Girl Drum," reveals the incredible hardship of contemporary life on the reservation. A little girl, Shawnee, fends for her little sister and brother while their mother hitches to town to look for food. It is bitter cold, North Dakota-cold, and the oil runs out, killing the heat. Desperate, Shawnee makes a fire where the old woodstove used to be. When the fire spreads and the house goes up in flames, Shawnee escapes with her siblings and flees to Bernard's house. Even in this part of the novel, the drum plays a powerful, mysterious role.

The novel loops to a satisfying close in the fourth part, titled "Revival Road," just as the first part. The drum causes a revival in Faye's life, helping her to confront a tragedy that has frozen her in time. The drum gives Faye the freedom to accept the past, to forgive and to move forward in her life.

"For to suddenly say, I believe, I am convinced, even saved, and to throw myself into Native traditions," Faye says, "is not in my character. Salvation seems a complicated process with many wobbling steps, and I am skeptical and slow to act." Even so, she admits, "sometimes things happen all at once."

Ashley Simpson Shires is a freelance writer living in Boulder.