Jenna Bush Hager Calls Her August ‘Read With Jenna’ Pick ‘The Perfect Summer Read’
‘Sunlight Finds You’ is a Cold War-era love story Jenna calls ‘propulsive'
Key Takeaways
- Jenna Bush Hager picked ‘Sunlight Finds You’ by Laura Moriarty for August 2026.
- The novel follows Nora, a teen in 1949 St. Petersburg, Florida, and a lost love.
- Author Laura Moriarty wrote the book while undergoing treatment for cancer.
Jenna Bush Hager’s August ‘Read With Jenna’ pick is here and it’s the perfect read for the end of summer. If you don’t believe us, believe Jenna, who called it “the perfect summer read.” To learn more about the book, Sunlight Finds You by Laura Moriarty, keep reading!
Jenna Bush Hager reveals her August ‘Read With Jenna’ pick
Earlier today, Jenna announced that Sunlight Finds You by Laura Moriarty would be her August pick. Set in 1949, during the Cold War, in St. Petersburg, Florida, this coming-of-age romance follows 17-year-old Nora, who falls deeply in love with a young man named Leonard. But when Leonard’s father threatens their relationship, Nora makes a heartbreaking choice and leaves. Decades later, an adult Nora finds herself reliving her past, questioning whether she made the right decision all those years ago and wondering if it’s too late for a second chance.
“It is propulsive and drenched in light, just like the title,” Jenna says of the novel. “His parents, and a secret, separate them, which leads Nora through a twisty path toward adulthood, heartbreak and eventually, healing. [It’s a book about] forgiveness, both of ourselves and others, and love.”
Also raving about the novel? Bestselling historical fiction author Ariel Lawhon, whose newest novel, The Pirate Queen, comes out on September 8, 2026.
“The kind of book that makes you lean closer, then hold your breath as the beauty and betrayal unfold,” Lawhon said. “I couldn’t stop reading. I couldn’t stop hoping. What an extraordinary novel!”
Laura Moriarty spills some secrets about her novel
Moriarty has written a number of historical fiction novels, but she calls Sunlight Finds You “a big love story.”
“Not exactly a romance, but a story about the way love can change a person and alter the course of their life,” she told Today.com. “It really became this place of explosive growth and typically seeking the sun in good times after the war.”
Writing the book wasn’t easy, since Moriarty told the outlet she was diagnosed with cancer while writing it and had to have her jaw almost completely reconstructed during treatment.
“It slowed me down. I’m so, so happy to be on the other side of it,” she said of her cancer and treatment. “I hope it prompts people to think about their own big choices that they made and how it shaped their life. And I hope they can think about doing it with that same sort of compassion.” In her case, it made her more compassionate to other people.
“What I really love about her [Nora] is she’s able to look at her mistakes with her younger self of compassion. She doesn’t go into just beating herself up, or she learns to stop doing that,” she continued. “It was really hard to navigate this narrow path for women and girls. They have the same dreams and desires for autonomy that we all do. I don’t want to go back.”
Sunlight Finds You by Laura Moriarty is available for purchase now wherever books are sold.
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