What To Read

Tertulia's First Dibs Editors Salon series is an exclusive look at a few of the most exciting books coming out each season. On September 17 at 7:30pm, join us on Zoom for what promises to be a great conversation about books with the editors who helped to shape and publish them.

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One of our fall selections is The Mighty Red, the latest novel by National Book Award winner and Pulitzer finalist Louise Erdrich. The book, out October 1, is one of the most anticipated novels of the year and has already been nominated as finalist for the Kirkus Prize. We are honored to have the book's editor, Jonathan Burnham, join us at the salon on September 17 to talk about the book. He shared this personal note about the book as a special preview just for Tertulia readers.

Jonathan Burnham is President and Publisher of the Harper Group at HarperCollins.

Pulitzer Prize winner Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red is a novel of ordinary life and extraordinary love set in a time of economic and ecological precariousness which takes on some of the most relevant themes of our time. As Louise's publisher and editor, I can say there is no higher honor than to have worked on this breathtaking work by one of our industry’s icons.

Time is the driving pulse of this multilayered novel, set in the Red River Valley of North Dakota: human time, deep time, Red River time, the half-life of herbicides and pesticides, and the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depths are set against the speed of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and the sudden economic meltdown of 2008–2009.

As with every book this great modern master writes, The Mighty Red is about our tattered bond with the earth, and about love in all of its absurdity and splendor. As a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa (Ojibwe), Louise comes to these themes with deep knowledge and passion. That we bring this book into the world at a time when the issues the author raises are of such paramount importance to the health and future of our people and our planet is another measure of Louise’s prescience and connection with the world around her.