Editions

American Wife

  • Imprint: Black Swan

  • ISBN: 9780552775540

  • Length: 656  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 39mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 430g

  • RRP: £8.99

American Wife

  • The acclaimed word-of-mouth bestseller

'Honest, wonderful and smart as hell' Guardian
'Curtis Sittenfeld is in a league of her own' Observer

All I did is marry him. You are the ones who gave him power.

Quiet, bookish Alice Blackwell never dreamed of being First Lady. Much less to a President whose politics she doesn't believe in. On perhaps the most important day of her husband's presidency, Alice looks back on the strange and unlikely path that led her to the White House, and to a decision - both treacherous and long overdue - that could jeopardise everything.

Taking inspiration from real life, American Wife is a remarkable portrait of a woman caught between her feelings for her husband, her country, and herself.

'My favourite book of the century' HADLEY FREEMAN, GUARDIAN

  • Imprint: Black Swan

  • ISBN: 9780552775540

  • Length: 656  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 39mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 430g

  • RRP: £8.99

Reviews

  • Such an accomplished work of fiction... a thoughtful and compelling examination of the mechanics of family and marriage... Knowing and knowledgeable, yet also inventive and original, American Wife is a thrilling combination of history and surprises

    Guardian

  • Superbly well-written - one of the most absorbing books of the year

    Evening Standard

  • Thoroughly enjoyable. The plot is beautifully paced, the writing quick, clear, absorbing... A sweeping saga

    The Times

  • A powerful, utterly compelling and strangely moving fictional account of a First Lady who bears more than a passing resemblance to Laura Bush

    Daily Mirror

  • My favourite book of the year

    Kate Atkinson

  • A quietly riveting parable... thought-provoking, entertaining and full of subtle reflections on class and marriage

    Daily Mail

  • American Wife is easily one of the best books written so far this century. It is honest, wonderful and smart as hell, the kind of book that you try to eke out to make it last as long as possible

    Guardian

  • This is one of the finest American novels of 2008

    New Statesman

  • The scope and detail of American Wife are reminiscent of Richard Russo. Like Russo, she creates characters from the ground up, ancestry, neighborhood, culture and all... Her characters are carefully rendered and the story is well-constructed

    Los Angeles Times

  • Vastly entertaining... It is an intelligent, well-crafted, psychologically astute novel

    New York Sun

More from this Author

About the Author

Curtis Sittenfeld

Curtis Sittenfeld is the author of the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling Rodham. Other novels include American Wife and Prep, both bestsellers and longlisted for the Orange Prize, The Man of My Dreams, Sisterland, Eligible, and the acclaimed short story collections You Think It, I'll Say It and Help Yourself. Her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Oprah Magazine and the New York Times magazine. Sittenfeld is also the guest editor for the 2020 Best American Short Stories anthology. She lives with her family in the American Mid-West. Follow her on Twitter @CSittenfeld

Curtis Sittenfeld

Read more

/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2020/july/curtis-sittenfeld-conversation-hadley-freeman.jpg

Events

Curtis Sittenfeld in conversation with Hadley Freeman
/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2020/may/Article-Card-sittenfield.jpg

Recommendations

Where to start reading Curtis Sittenfeld's books

You might know she's written an alternate history of Hillary Rodham Clinton's life, but which of Curtis Sittenfeld's books do you read next? Follow our guide.
/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/You-think-Snippet.jpg

Extracts

The Nominee: a short story about Hillary Clinton

In this warm and wholly believable short story from Curtis Sittenfeld’s collection You Think It, I’ll Say It, Hillary Clinton reflects upon a razor-sharp female journalist who she has sparred with for many years.

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Strictly Necessary

Strictly Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. See More.

Analytics

Analytics cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. See More.

Preferences & Features

Preference and Feature cookies allow our website to remember choices you make, such as your language preferences and any customisations you make to pages on our website during your visit. See More.

Targeting / Advertising

Targeting cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They perform functions like preventing the same content from reappearing, ensuring ads are displayed and, in some cases, selecting content based on your interests. See More.