The risks for us are greater, yes, but the level of protection is incomparable-absurd at times. There are always, in our lives now, security concerns, but these have become routine, and more than once I’ve thought we must be far safer than a typical middle-class couple in the suburbs they have a burglar alarm, or perhaps a Jack Russell terrier, a spotlight at one exterior corner of the house, and we have snipers and helicopters, armored cars, rocket launchers and sharpshooters on the roof. A white-noise machine hums discreetly from its perch on a shelf, and the shades and draperies are drawn to keep us in thick darkness. Nor can I blame the temperature of the room (sixty-six degrees during the night, seventy degrees during the day, when neither of us spends almost any time here). Tonight, though, he isn’t snoring, so I cannot blame my insomnia on him. “Give me a good hard push.” This felt rude, but I learned to do it. “Just roll me over,” he said, and grinned. But it didn’t take long for him to convey that he’d prefer if I simply shoved him no conversation was necessary, and he didn’t want to be awakened. Early in our marriage, really in the first weeks, when he snored, I’d say his name aloud, and when he responded, I’d apologetically request that he turn onto his side. All other characters in the novel are products of the author’s imagination, as are the incidents concerning them.Īv e i m a d e terrible mistakes? In bed beside me, my husband sleeps, his breathing deep and steady. Her husband, his parents, and certain prominent members of his administration are recognizable. PS3619.I94A8 2008 813'.6-dc22 2008008175Īmerican Wife is a work of fiction loosely inspired by the life of an American first lady. Presidents’ spouses-United States-Fiction. American wife: a novel / Curtis Sittenfeld. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sittenfeld, Curtis. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a Division of Penguin Young Readers Group, a Member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. viking penguin, a division of penguin young readers group, a member of penguin group (usa) inc.: Excerpt from Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, copyright © 1939 by Ludwig Bemelmans and copyright renewed 1967 by Madeleine Bemelmans and Barbara Bemelmans Marciano. Reprinted by permission of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203 and Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. All rights controlled and administered by EMI Unart Catalog, Inc., and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. All rights assigned to EMI Catalogue Partnership.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material: sony/atv music publishing and alfred publishing co., inc.: Excerpt from “Lonesome Town” by Baker Knight, copyright © 1958 (renewed) by Sony/ATV Songs LLC, EMI Unart Catalog, Inc., and Matragun Music, Inc., EMI. Random House and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. This book has been optimized for viewing at a monitor setting of 1024 x 768 pixels.Īlso by curtis sittenfeld The Man of My Dreams PrepĬopyright © 2008 by Curtis Sittenfeld All rights reserved.