In this week's edition of Endnotes, we take a look at The Mighty Red, the new novel from Pulitzer-winner Louise Erdrich. In a starred review PW called the book "a deliciously seductive masterwork."
Here's how the novel came together:
Aza Erdrich, Cover Artist
“The design for this cover began with a conversation with my mother. The novel is concerned with the complex and often insidious effects of sugar beet agribusiness. The thick paint in the background is a mixture of deep browns, greens, and blues, nearly black, much like the fertile soil of the Red River Valley confluence basin where the story is set. The flecks of gold denote the abundance of nutrients,
as well as the considerable wealth generated for big business with this type of farming.”
Milan Bozic, Senior Art Director, HarperCollins
“As soon as Aza delivered this powerful piece, I knew the type needed to be simple yet confident. The gold of Louise’s name is there to reinforce Aza’s concept of abundant nutrients in the soil.”
Andrew Wylie, Founder and Agent, the Wylie Agency
“I have represented Louise for over two decades. In The Mighty Red, she has created a mother-daughter duo of Crystal and Kismet who rival any of literature’s great heroines.”
Jonathan Burnham, President and Publisher, Harper Group
“This novel was originally intended to be titled Crystal, after one of the leading characters. The change from that title to the present one signifies one of the several changes the book went through as Erdrich was writing.”
Louise Erdrich, Author
“You know when you have to do a minor but consequential household repair or obtain a medical procedure, and you’re confronted with a diabolically complicated phone bot that you have to patiently circumvent over and over to get to a real person? That’s what writing is like sometimes. I had to do this over and over for what seemed like years before I reached my characters and they came alive.”
