What if Hillary Rodham had met Bill Clinton at Yale — as she did. What if she had fallen deeply in love and followed him to Arkansas — as she did?
But what if — instead of hitching her wagon to Clinton’s star — she had pursued a life as a legal scholar and a political activist with the freedom to put her own driving ambitions first?
What if Clinton’s infidelity, his political compromises and his needy charisma hadn’t been Hillary’s burden to carry?
When I interviewed Curtis Sittenfeld, I confided that I wasn’t sure I was prepared to revisit 2016 in the midst of a world health crisis and a presidential campaign.
So I started the novel with some reluctance and soon tumbled fully into Hillary’s alternative world. I believed it when Hillary Rodham anguished over leaving Clinton — and knew she might never love like that again. “Did I imagine,” she asks herself, “my life would be full of such emotional extravagance?” — not extravagant passion, perhaps, but a rich and rewarding life.
My Thread Must-Read is Curtis Sittenfeld’s new novel, “Rodham.” Listen to our conversation on Thursday at 9 a.m.
At her best, Olivia Laing turns criticism into an elevated form of hospitality: Like a good party host, she introduces you to someone, tells you what she likes about them, then leaves you to it.
Dr. Vivek Murthy tells NPR: "The reality is that loneliness is a natural signal that our body gives us, similar to hunger, thirst. And that's how important human connection is."
In her new novel, Samanta Schweblin gives everyone in the world a little critter that's basically a Furby with a webcam — naturally, this does not end well, for the owners, the devices, or anyone.
Martha Wells' freethinking robot stars in its first full-length adventure, remaining just as misanthropic and TV-obsessed as ever, even as it attempts to figure out who kidnapped it and its friends.
North of Grand Marais along Highway 61, a white clapboard church stands as one of the only reminders of what was once a small community called Chippewa City. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with author Staci Lola Drouillard about the book and her family’s connection to Chippewa City.
When Su Hwang accepted her Minnesota Book Award for poetry, she was wearing her pajamas and holding a glass of red wine. The annual ceremony honoring Minnesota authors had to go virtual this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
