Local readers have chosen Louise Erdrich’s novel, “The Sentence,” to be the 2023 Clinton County Reads book.

Programs and discussions will run from March 20 through April 20. A detailed schedule of events will be announced in February.

Blanchester Public Library director Chris Owens, who serves as chairman of the Clinton County Reads Steering Committee, said, “Voters have made an excellent choice. Erdrich’s book will lend itself to thoughtful discussions and programs that are both entertaining and educational. Its themes are personal and universal, timely and timeless.”

Set in the world of reading and bookselling, the novel spans the year between All Souls’ Day 2019 and All Souls’ Day 2020, a period of profound change in the world and in the Minneapolis bookstore where the story is set.

Washington Post reviewer Ron Charles wrote, “‘The Sentence’ is a ghost story that hovers between the realms of historical horror and cultural comedy.”

Louise Erdrich is a past recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and is one of America’s most popular and acclaimed contemporary writers.

Now in its 18th year, Clinton County Reads is sponsored by the Blanchester Public Library, the Sabina Public Library and its New Vienna Branch, the Wilmington Public Library and its Clinton-Massie Branch, and Wilmington College’s S. Arthur Watson Memorial Library.