Elena Nicolaou is a senior entertainment editor at Today.com, where she covers the latest in TV, pop culture, movies and all things streaming. Previously, she covered culture at Refinery29 and Oprah Daily. Her superpower is matching people up with the perfect book, which she does on her podcast, Blind Date With a Book.
Jenna Bush Hager’s November Read With Jenna pick is a retelling of a classic. “This Motherless Land” by Nikki May is a “beautiful” re-imagining of Jane Austen’s “Mansfield Park,” Jenna says. For Jenna, part of the book’s appeal was how it connected her to the other women in her life. “My grandmother Barbara was a huge fan of Jane Austen,” Jenna says. “Even after she couldn’t see well enough to read, we would listen to ‘Pride and Prejudice’ together. When I read Jane Austen, I think of her.
Then, Funke’s story diverges from May’s, and in devastating fashion. Funke’s little brother and mother, Elizabeth, are killed in an accident. In the aftermath, Funke is sent to live with her late mother’s closed-off English family. In England, Funke's only warmth comes in the form of her cousin, free-spirited Liv. Liv, too, finds a much-needed friend in Funke, and a kind of love that’s more nourishing than her own mother’s calculated ministrations. May calls their relationship a love story.
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