What’s a book you think deserves a sequel?

We read The Mighty Red (c. 2024) by Louise Erdrich for my book group this month. It was my first time reading her. I liked the book and can certainly understand why she’s such an esteemed author.

The Mighty Red is really a portrait of a community along the Red River in North Dakota, where sugar beet farming and processing is the major industry. There are at least 15 different characters, from the local teenagers to the town priest. A tragedy has occurred, but you don’t find out exactly what happened until late in the book.

The last chapter jumps forward ten or so years, so you get a brief look at how things “turned out” for the major characters. But I think it would be interesting to visit this community in thirty years—when the teenagers are approaching 50. Did they stay? Did they go? Did they ever process their grief from the tragedy? Which couples stayed together and which didn’t? Did the farmers embrace a less devastating crop?

The challenge for Erdrich would be imaging a future that doesn’t exist yet. She’d have to create the world they live in without knowing it.

OK, on second thought, she should wait 15 years before writing the sequel. She’s 72 now. She can make it to 87. If it takes her three years to research and write the book, this could be her 90th birthday present to readers.

Louise, take note!