Jenna Bush Hager says her October 2024 book club pick was written by a ‘legend’

Jenna Bush Hager says her October 2024 book club pick is by an author she’s always loved: Louise Erdrich.

“She’s a master, a legend at building stories around community,” Jenna tells TODAY.com.

The prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning author is known for crafting stories set in Native American communities.

Her latest novel, “The Mighty Red,” follows a love triangle that unfolds between three young people in North Dakota in the late 2000s, plus many asides from the people in their lives.

“The Mighty Red” by Louise Erdrich

“We meet Kismet, a young girl who loves poetry and has so much promise. Gary is desperate to marry Kismet because he thinks she will solve all of his problems. Meanwhile, Kismet’s best friend, Hugo, is wildly in love with her,” Jenna says.

Kismet’s mom, Crystal, looks on at her high school senior daughter’s life with concern, knowing she has to give her freedom, but hoping she will make the right decision. Crystal then has to decide whether to intervene.

“This is a book about family and community. It is a book about upward mobility and finding our true passions. You will love Kismet,” Jenna says.

In a statement to TODAY.com, Erdrich said she was “thoroughly delighted” her book was chosen as a Read With Jenna pick.

“Jenna’s support for reading makes the world better, and the exciting books she chooses put me in the best of company,” she said.

In addition to being an author, Erdrich is the owner of Birchbark Books, an indie bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The inspiration for “The Mighty Red” goes all the way back to her first job working on a beet farm at 13, Erdrich said.

In the book, Gary’s father owns a sugar beet farm, which he’s set to inherit one day. The lynchpin for the town’s entire economy, the farm’s future is threatened by overuse of pesticides.

“I was part of an all-girl crew, up before dawn. The hard work has given me a lasting sympathy for field labor and for people who work in the sugar industry,” Erdrich said.

She also wanted to write about “life, death, about how hard it is to figure out love as a teenager, and how your life can change forever with one reckless act.”

While reading “The Mighty Red,” Erdrich provided a few questions she’d like readers to ask themselves.

“Is romantic love the most important love? How does it change as we get older?” she said. “There are many relationships in the book. Which is the one that resonates most for you?”  

“I’d also like readers to question the way we are now farming, and to become aware of its effect on the earth. We have to build a world we can leave to our children. What’s our way forward? ”