American Wife

De: Curtis Sittenfeld

Narrado por: Kimberly Farr

Brought to you by Penguin

In the year 2000, in the closest election in American history, Alice Blackwell's husband becomes president of the United States. Their time in the White House proves to be heady, tumultuous, and controversial.

But it is Alice's own story - that of a kind, bookish, only child born in the 1940s Midwest who comes to inhabit a life of dizzying wealth and power - that is itself remarkable. Alice candidly describes her small-town upbringing, and the tragedy that shaped her identity; she recalls her early adulthood as a librarian, and her surprising courtship with the man who swept her off her feet; she tells of the crisis that almost ended their marriage; and she confides the privileges and difficulties of being first lady, a role that is uniquely cloistered and public, secretive and exposed.

In Alice Blackwell, Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is not a novel about politics. It is a gorgeously written novel that weaves race, class, fate and wealth into a brilliant tapestry. It is a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable, and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.

©2020 Curtis Sittenfeld (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Interesting story - fun fiction behind the curtain

Not my usual go to but very highly recommended by chats 10, looks 3. Story line dips into some huge issues with finesse and sensitivity while still making this a comfortable read. The look behind the curtain approach and thoughts that all humans have their faults even those we put on a pedestal is raw and so plausible. Overall a nice read, a little too long for me but many will enjoy this.