Author Guide · Literary Fiction
Books Written by
Curtis Sittenfeld, the American novelist born in Cincinnati in 1975, won Seventeen magazine’s fiction contest in 1992 and graduated from Groton, a Massachusetts boarding school, a year later. Her first novel, Prep (2005), about a scholarship girl from Indiana at a boarding school near Boston, was rejected fourteen times before Random House took it; The New York Times then named it one of the ten best books of the year. Since then she has written a first lady modelled on Laura Bush, a Hillary Rodham who never marries Bill Clinton, and a Pride and Prejudice set in Cincinnati. Her books have been translated into thirty languages. This guide covers her 9 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 9 key books · 2005–2025 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Curtis Sittenfeld has published nine books: seven novels and two story collections. The best known are Prep (2005), American Wife (2008), Eligible (2016), Rodham (2020) and Romantic Comedy (2023). Start with Prep; its narrator, Lee Fiora, returns decades later in a story in Show Don’t Tell (2025).
Where to Start with Curtis Sittenfeld
If you want her defining book
→ Prep (2005) — the boarding-school debut, narrated by Lee Fiora.
If you want fiction about political lives
→ American Wife (2008) — a first lady’s life from small-town Wisconsin to the White House.
If you want a modern Austen
→ Eligible (2016) — Pride and Prejudice moved to Cincinnati.
If you want something lighter
→ Romantic Comedy (2023) — a comedy writer, a pop star and one week of a live TV show.
9 Curtis Sittenfeld Books, in Order
Prep
Lee Fiora, a teenager from South Bend, Indiana, wins a place at Ault, an elite boarding school near Boston, and narrates her four years there as an outsider among rich classmates. Sittenfeld spent three years writing it. The New York Times named it one of the ten best books of 2005, and Paramount optioned the film rights.
The Man of My Dreams
The novel follows Hannah Gavener from eighth grade through Tufts University and into her late twenties, in a series of episodes about family, friendship and the men she chooses or fails to choose. It was published by Random House in May 2006.
American Wife
Alice Lindgren grows up bookish in small-town Wisconsin, where a car accident in her teens kills a boy she likes. She marries Charlie Blackwell, the hard-partying son of a wealthy family, who becomes president and takes the country into an unpopular war. The story closely follows the life of Laura Bush. It was longlisted for the 2009 Orange Prize, and a film adaptation was announced in 2011.
Sisterland
Kate and Violet are identical twins in St. Louis who share psychic “senses”. Kate has hidden hers to live as a conventional wife and mother; Violet, who works openly as a psychic, publicly predicts a major earthquake, and the prediction pulls Kate back into the past she has tried to leave.
Eligible
A contemporary retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in Cincinnati, written for The Austen Project. Liz Bennet is a magazine writer, Darcy a neurosurgeon, and Chip Bingley a doctor who once starred on a reality dating show called Eligible. ABC committed to a television pilot in 2017.
You Think It, I’ll Say It
Her first story collection, with ten stories. In “A Regular Couple” a lawyer on her honeymoon runs into the girl who bullied her in high school; in “The Prairie Wife” a suburban mother fantasises about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome lifestyle brand may be a fraud.
Rodham
Hillary Rodham turns down Bill Clinton’s third proposal and goes her own way: first as a law professor at Northwestern in Chicago, then into politics, over some forty years. The book began as a short story an Esquire editor asked her to write from Hillary’s point of view. It divided critics.
Romantic Comedy
Sally Milz writes sketches for The Night Owls, a live Saturday-night comedy show, and has given up on love. Over one week the pop star Noah Brewster hosts and is the musical guest, and the two hit it off while working on sketches. It was Reese Witherspoon’s book club pick for April 2023.
Show Don’t Tell
Twelve stories, nine of them published before, mostly about educated, middle-aged American women in the Midwest. In “A for Alone” an artist tests the so-called Mike Pence rule; in “Lost but Not Forgotten” Lee Fiora from Prep returns for a reunion at Ault. It was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.
In What Order to Read Curtis Sittenfeld
Apart from one story, none of her books continues another, so you can start anywhere. The only link is Lee Fiora: read Prep before “Lost but Not Forgotten” in Show Don’t Tell, where Lee goes back to Ault decades later.
American Wife and Rodham work as a pair: two novels about the private lives of political wives, one modelled on Laura Bush and one on Hillary Clinton. The two story collections are the quickest way to see her range.
A reading path
1. Prep (2005)
2. American Wife (2008)
3. Eligible (2016)
4. Rodham (2020)
5. Show Don’t Tell (2025)
The years · 1975–2025
Quick facts about Curtis Sittenfeld
- Known for
- Curtis Sittenfeld is known for close, unsparing first-person portraits of women, from a scholarship girl at a New England boarding school to fictional versions of Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.
- 1975
- Born in Cincinnati, Ohio
- 1992
- Wins Seventeen’s fiction contest
- 2005
- Prep
- 2008
- American Wife
- 2020
- Rodham
- 2025
- Show Don’t Tell
- Born
- 23 August 1975, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Education
- Groton School (1993), Stanford University (BA), Iowa Writers’ Workshop (MFA)
- Debut
- Prep (2005), rejected fourteen times before Random House published it
- Early prize
- Seventeen magazine fiction contest, 1992
- Translations
- Her novels have appeared in thirty languages
- Lives
- Minneapolis, since 2018
The red mark is 2005: Prep, her first novel.
How Curtis Sittenfeld Writes
Most of her books are told in the first person by a woman looking back: Lee Fiora on her years at Ault, Alice Blackwell on the road to the White House, Hillary Rodham on the life she chose instead of marriage. The voice is candid about embarrassment, class and desire, which is what reviewers of Prep singled out; Elissa Schappell wrote that the dialogue was so convincing “one wonders if she didn’t wear a wire under her hockey kilt.”
She often starts from real public figures and asks what their lives looked like from the inside. American Wife follows the outline of Laura Bush’s life, and Rodham began when an Esquire editor asked for a story from Hillary Clinton’s point of view; she has said the question became what Hillary thinks of the American people, rather than the other way round.
She aims, in her own words, for “realistic characters rather than likeable characters”, and her plots are built on what happens rather than on mood. Her stories in You Think It, I’ll Say It and Show Don’t Tell turn on social reversals: an old bully met again, a friend’s perfect image cracking, a game between married acquaintances that goes too far.
Watch
Curtis Sittenfeld on Romantic Comedy at the Texas Book Festival
Curtis Sittenfeld talks about her seventh novel, Romantic Comedy, at the Texas Book Festival on 12 November 2023. From the official texasbookfestival channel.
Frequently asked questions about Curtis Sittenfeld’s books
How many books has Curtis Sittenfeld written?
Nine: seven novels and two story collections. The novels are Prep, The Man of My Dreams, American Wife, Sisterland, Eligible, Rodham and Romantic Comedy; the collections are You Think It, I’ll Say It and Show Don’t Tell.
What are Curtis Sittenfeld’s books in order?
Prep (2005), The Man of My Dreams (2006), American Wife (2008), Sisterland (2013), Eligible (2016), You Think It, I’ll Say It (2018), Rodham (2020), Romantic Comedy (2023) and Show Don’t Tell (2025).
Where should I start with Curtis Sittenfeld?
With Prep (2005), her first novel, about Lee Fiora’s four years at Ault, an elite boarding school near Boston. If you prefer something lighter, start with Romantic Comedy.
What is Curtis Sittenfeld’s most famous book?
Prep, which The New York Times named one of the ten best books of 2005 and Entertainment Weekly called a cult classic in 2018. American Wife and Rodham are her best-known novels about political lives.
Is American Wife about Laura Bush?
It is fiction, but Alice Lindgren’s life closely follows Laura Bush’s: a bookish girl from a small town, a fatal car accident in her teens, and marriage to the son of a wealthy political family who becomes president and leads the country into an unpopular war.
What is Rodham about?
An alternate history in which Hillary Rodham turns down Bill Clinton’s proposal. She becomes a law professor at Northwestern in Chicago and then a politician, and the novel follows her over about forty years. It divided critics when it came out in 2020.
Is there a sequel to Prep?
Not a novel, but Lee Fiora returns in “Lost but Not Forgotten”, a story in Show Don’t Tell (2025), in which she goes back to Ault for a reunion decades later.
Have Curtis Sittenfeld’s books been adapted?
Several have been optioned. Paramount optioned Prep, a film of American Wife was announced in 2011 with a screenplay by Ron Nyswaner, and ABC committed to a television pilot of Eligible in 2017.
Which Curtis Sittenfeld book was a Reese’s Book Club pick?
Romantic Comedy, chosen for April 2023. It follows Sally Milz, a sketch writer on a live Saturday-night comedy show, and the pop star Noah Brewster.
Is Curtis Sittenfeld a man or a woman?
A woman. Her full name is Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld, and she was born in Cincinnati on 23 August 1975.
Footnotes
- Curtis Sittenfeld — Wikipedia
- Curtis Sittenfeld — Women’s Prize for Fiction
- Show Don’t Tell — Penguin Random House
- Curtis Sittenfeld on Rodham — NPR, 2020
- Curtis Sittenfeld on Show Don’t Tell — Wallpaper*, 2025
- Romantic Comedy — Reese’s Book Club
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I aspire to create realistic characters rather than likeable characters.”
— Curtis Sittenfeld, interview with Wallpaper* (2025)
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