And I think people see her as sort of stiff, and proper, and heavily made up, but she's actually supposed to be very down to earth, very unpretentious. CURTIS SITTENFELD (Author, 'American Wife'): Well, I really admire Laura Bush, which I think - some people who know me think it's strange, because I'm a very liberal Democrat.īut when I first read articles about her, you know, this would be early in 2001, she was very different from her sort of obvious or stereotypical public persona. Why did you want to imagine through fiction what Laura Bush is really thinking? Curtis Sittenfeld is also the author of the bestselling novel 'Prep.'Ĭurtis, the novel is so much about the thoughts, the often hidden thoughts in the mind of your main character. Many of the details in Alice Blackwell's life come from the biography of Laura Bush, but many don't.

In Sittenfeld's new bestseller, 'American Wife,' she's created a fictional first lady named Alice Blackwell, who marries a man with no political ambitions, and watches him rise to become a very popular president, only to lose support as a result of a war and his other policies.Īlthough those who hate Blackwell's husband, hate her by extension, she secretly disagrees with many of his policies too. Laura Bush has not discussed her private thoughts or her inner life with the press, but novelist Curtis Sittenfeld has tried to imagine what would go on in the mind of a first lady, like Laura Bush.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld