Rodham, by Curtis Sittenfeld

As in "American Wife," which was loosely based on Laura Bush, wife of George W., Sittenfeld’s new novel, "Rodham," reimagines a well-known political figure’s life – Hillary Rodham Clinton. What if Hillary had not married Bill? I found the first third of the book, which deals with Hillary’s childhood and young adulthood, rather pedestrian despite a good bit of steamy sex with the irresistible Bill. But he was too irresistible to too many for Hillary to ultimately excuse his infidelities and she refuses his marriage proposal. In the second third, we learn of her post-Bill years as a law professor at Northwestern and her budding interest in running for office herself, culminating in a successful bid for the U.S. Senate. In this reimagining, she, rather than Carol Mosley Braun, wins the Illinois election, which will permanently damage her decades-long important friendship with a Gwen, who is African-American. Still interesting, but a bit long. However, the book really comes into its own and gathers considerable momentum and suspense in the final third. She runs for President, with Bill, who has left politics and become a billionaire tech exec in this retelling, a late entry into the field. Sittenfeld’s faux Trump texts are simply marvelous. Recommended with these reservations. 432 pp.