The rest, as they say, isn’t history. How might things have turned out for them, for America, for the world itself, if Hillary Rodham had really turned down Bill Clinton?

Rodham is Curtis Sittenfeld’s sixth novel, echoing her 2008 novel American Wife in which she imagined the life of a first lady like Laura Bush. Full of lively conversation, deep politics, and a lot of sex, it’s a pacy novel that follows the life of a firey woman who could hold her own against anyone in political office.

Sittenfield is clearly a Clinton fan, and whilst you don’t have to be to read the novel, it certainly helps if you have some interest in their life. It begins with the famous speech at her 1969 Wellesley graduation ceremony where Hillary told off the conservative senator who spoke before her, which sets the tone for the energy of the main protagonist. Women in the pubic eye are often held to ludicrously high standards, and the author challenges this at the same time as creating warmth and empathy to a woman who is not at all cold and calculating.

Even though she doesn’t stay with him, and leaves at the first sign of infidelity, Hillary does truly love Bill – and it wasn’t just sexual. ‘I knew plenty of smart people, but I’d never before encountered a person whose intelligence sharpened mine the way his did,’ she says. There’s a certain thrill that comes with seeing her in emotional and domestic settings, so far removed from the reputation that has been built up over the last few years. But she’s also a political powerhouse, and Sittenfeld draws the conclusion that without Hillary Bill’s political career would never have happened.

Most women in the public eye are full of contradictions. Is there any value in imagining an alternate life for them and seeing where those layers take us? Maybe not, but Sittenfield is a good writer and tells a story with emotion and empathy.

How different the world could have been.

I caught up with Valerie to find out more.

The collection was written over 15 years, which is a long time. What made you stick with it?

I really didn’t have a choice. It was how I would deal with the realities of my life. I would be deep in a thought or an emotion, and then this pattern would form and then these words would come, and the only way to stop thinking about it was to write it down and release it.

Your career has been as a ghostwriter – are there any similarities in each craft?

Ghostwriting is a lot of fun. If you do it right, you essentially write as another person. You take on his character. You listen intently to his word choice and his manner of speaking. You hear this other person in your head, and  you write the words you think he would say. It’s a bit like acting. For my poetry, it’s entirely me. It’s my voice, my thoughts, my experiences.

Is poetry the most natural way to explore the theme of love?

I think love is such a complicated human emotion and concept that it can be explored in many ways. There are romance novels, paintings, movies, plays, etc.  Poetry is just how I explore it. It’s my way of expression.

How do you stop yourself from being cliched?

I just try hard to be authentic and true to myself, and then my craft follows.

Your book explores the relationship between the natural elements with the emotions of love – can you explain this?

There are many poems throughout the book that reference the ocean, the moon, the wind, etc. These are parts of nature that I gravitate towards. And so when you read the poems, you’ll see me talk about nature,  sometimes in a joyful way and other times to represent loss.

Do you now call yourself a poet?

This is a very fair question, as I’ve been struggling with this label quite a bit. I supposed publishing a book of poetry that, knock wood, so far, is well received makes me a poet. I think of myself more of a storyteller. I’m just telling a story with each poem using a limited number of words and hoping it resonates. But, I suppose I could try on the word for a little bit and see how it fits.

I raced through Hina Belitz’s To Lahore, With Love. But I didn’t love it. The book feels confused. Is it literary fiction, chick lit, or a recipe book? Not that a novel needs to fit neatly into a genre, but it does need to be consistent. All the tropes of a compelling piece of commercial fiction are there. There’s a complicated upbringing, an earth shattering secret, and broken promises. But you’re never really drawn in enough.

The relationship between Addy and her Nan is sweet, and the way that she writes rapturously about food glorious. Belitz’s first book Sofia Kahn is not Obliged was far more compelling. I’m sure it will do brilliantly in the summer reads rounds up. It just didn’t rock my world.

I had a chat with Hina to learn more about her writing and the book.

Is To Lahore With Love based on your own story and upbringing?

Yes! To Lahore With Love is based on the story of my life and upbringing, although it is a fictional version, so a number of things are different. It follows of the story of how protagonist, Addy Mayford, a mixed-race girl struggles with being different and not fitting in, and how she finds happiness, only to have it all stripped away in one earth shattering moment. It also explores how the trials in her life open her up to other ways of seeing the world. Addy Mayford challenges her beliefs about how we go about meeting our soulmate. Is there a right and a wrong way? I’ve been watching the current Netflix series Love Is Blind, presently Number 2 on Netflix, and there are a number of parallels between To Lahore With Love and that show.

The thread of the story that follows my own life was featured in Guardian Family and my interview by Morgan Freeman in The Story Of Us With Morgan Freeman (by National Geographic).

Stories, food, and faith – why are these so central to your book and to Addy?

What a great question! These themes are so central to the book because they represent the gifts I have received from the strong women who have been a part of my life, particularly my mother and grandmother. I see food as a bridge to other cultures and my mother was an epic cook who expressed her love for us through her cookery. I recall how in my childhood, I genuinely felt healed after one of mum’s meals. To Lahore With Love explores this idea further with the protagonist Addy Mayford believing that her food can actually change a person’s mind. I tragically lost my mother a few years ago and so including the recipes was a great way to immortalise a small part of her forever.

My grandmother was a great storyteller reminiscent of the ancient storytelling of Scherhezade in the Arabian nights. The story Nana tells Addy in To Lahore With Love is a real one my grandmother actually told me. Yes, she believed she had a Djinn lover! I made a connection between the idea of compelling stories that save lives and life changing meals. So, Addy Mayford is a sort of Scherhezade of the cookery world!

Faith, (by which I mean trusting that there is meaning to everything), has always been a central part of my life and for this reason I wanted it to become a part of Addy’s journey through the novel. I have always been amazed at how healing a small shift in mindset can be. And that requires faith. An example is the expression, ‘what hits you was never going to miss you, what misses you was never going to hit you.’ Believing these words is an act of faith which can give enormous relief from stress and anxiety. Sometimes a small phrase can blow you away. The Nietzsche quote at the opening of the novel is an example. It highlights how much suffering arises because we not open to the idea that what happens to us may be the best thing for us, even if it doesn’t seem that way. I think that the Nietzsche’s quote embodies the idea of faith beautifully.

Do you think we see enough characters from diverse backgrounds in English literature?

I do not believe we see enough characters from diverse backgrounds in English literature and for this reason I am passionate about writing such characters and hopefully as a result helping to normalise Asian stories. It is important to me that Addy Mayford is a cross-cultural and multi-religious. I want her to be relatable to different sectors and communities in the world. I am really interested in the similarities and differences in the outlook people from different cultures have, from the colour foundation they choose to how they deal with adversity.

It’s not enough, though, to just have more characters from diverse backgrounds. We also need to ensure they form part of varied and nuanced storytelling. One of the most damaging things is repeating a single story about a certain group of people because that is exactly how prejudice and bias can form.

What can people take away from your book? What do you hope it helps them consider?

The first thing I hope, the key take away I would like is for people to enjoy To Lahore With Love and connect with Addy Mayford like a friend they wish to keep visiting. If entering into Addy’s world introduces them to notions about people from other cultures and religions that they didn’t have before, that would be wonderful. Ultimately, I hope it helps people consider the great benefits of expanding your mind to understand and embrace any sort of ‘otherness.’

What’s your writing process or routine? Do you plan, pants, follow the character or something else?

My process is very organic. Before starting, I read around the subjects I am writing about and research a fair bit. I do make story plans in gorgeous Italian notebooks I buy from TK Maxx, but I mostly find I abandon them as the novel writing itself begins. I need silence to work and not only zero interuption, but no possibility of interruption, so I often go to the loft in our home or a library, like the Cambridge University Library. I get my best ideas in the shower, which is highly inconvenient, or sometimes in the dead of night when I should be asleep. In the end, it is hard hard work that leads to small openings and ideas which gradually accumulate. I am a real believer in the notion that the brain continues to work when you think you have signed off. And like Addy, I yearn for those moment of Lecto divino, those glimmers of transcendence when in the throes of creation, because when they do come, they are worth every moment of the hard graft involved in creating something original.