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Doubleday will publish Curtis Sittenfeld's new novel, exploring what would have happened if Hillary Clinton had not married Bill, in June 2020.
Rodham, the sixth novel from the bestselling author of American Wife, will be published simultaneously in the US by Random House. Doubleday, which will orchestrate a major UK marketing and publicity campaign across the national media to celebrate its launch on 30th June 2020, has British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada.
"Rodham imagines the life of a young woman full of promise, Hillary Rodham, who meets a charismatic fellow Yale Law School student named Bill Clinton," reads the synopsis. "The two find a profound intellectual, emotional, and physical connection that neither has previously experienced. In the novel, as she did in real life, Hillary turns down numerous marriage proposals from Bill. But in Rodham, their paths diverge when Hillary turns him down once and for all."
Sittenfeld said: "There were countless pieces analysing Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election, and I found myself thinking not about how she looks to all of us, but how all of us look to her. Instead of examining her from the outside and determining what she 'means,' I approached this novel with the question, 'What is it like to be her?'"
Doubleday Publisher Marianne Velmans said: "In American Wife, as well as some of her wonderful short stories, Curtis has shown a unique talent for writing fiction that throws a light on the lives of women in the political limelight. Since Curtis first told me her new novel was based on Hillary Clinton, I have been avidly and impatiently waiting for it, and now that it is here, I can confirm that it is every bit as smart, compelling, and satisfying as I ever hoped. It is a brilliant reimagining of what might have been, and truly a novel for our times."
Sittenfeld’s acclaimed New York Times bestseller American Wife, in which she painted a picture of a young American woman who eventually found herself married to a President, was published in 2009. It was longlisted for the Orange Prize, as was her début novel, Prep. Sittenfeld has sold 390,237 books for £2.46m, with her bestseller American Wife on 196,445 copies sold in paperback, according to Nielsen BookScan.