‘Everything Beautiful in it’s Time’ is a snapshot of Jenna Bush Hager’s all-American family. Written in her warm and breezy style the book is a perfect compliment to her on-air persona as co-host of Today with Hoda and Jenna. Whether she’s stargazing in Midland,Texas, ducking Secret Service Details in D.C, or fishing in Kennebunkport, Maine Jenna’s stories are so relatable, so funny, so charming, it’s easy to love her and this book.
Mapping the life she’s shared with twin sister Barbara ‘Everything Beautiful’ reads like a casual walk down memory lane. Some of the stories take a country-mile turn into the heart of Texas and home of grandparents Harold and Jenna Welch. Some stories slide along polished banisters into the White House residence while others track sand across the floors of the Bush Family Compound in Maine. Playfully, the New York Times Best Selling author mixes homespun lessons of virtue with intimate sneak-peaks into landmark events of our shared history.
While their grand dad and dad were wartime Presidents their Ganny and Mom were unflappable First Ladies. Under extraordinary circumstances Jenna and Barbara lived like ordinary kids.
The Bush Family in Kennebunkport : photo credit First Families Kennebunkport Museum
In her latest page-turner, Jenna’s kindred spiritedness focuses on sibling stuff, parenting stuff and the stuff that goes along with falling in love and having babies. Absent is any sense of pretense. ‘Everything Beautiful in it’s Time’ is however a book about privilege; the privileges and pains of humanity.
Along with the laughs ‘Everything Beautiful’ draws readers towards the intense psychological charge of time’s dynamic passage. As sure as there are stars in a Texas night sky and fish in the depths of Maine’s ocean, loss is part of every love story. Confronting the spaces between loving and losing these pages chronicle the passing of Grand dad Harold Welch in 1995, Ganny Bar’s death in April of 2018, Gampy George’s death in November of ’18, Grand mom Jenna Welch’s passing in May of 2019, and the loss of Jenna’s father-in-law,John Hager, in August of 2020.
Coinciding with these five heartaches, twin sister Barbara’s wedding, an unexpected job offer and an unplanned pregnancy put the Today Show co-host on an emotional roller-coster. In addition to loving relationships with her husband and two little girls Jenna writes candidly of her meaningful friendship with co-worker Savannah Guthrie and a faith-based practitioner for psychotherapeutic support to help her find beauty in all of these times.
Indoor/Outdoor Summer Chapel St. Ann’s Episcopal Church Kennebunkport, Maine
Engaging, heartfelt and free of trash-talk ‘Everything Beautiful’ in it’s Time” is a worthwhile read. You’ll recognize Bush family members and friends on every page, but more importantly you’ll see yourself and your loved ones in these beautiful love stories of life and loss.
The Bush Family Compound in Maine photo