Fluke

Starred review from November 2, 1998
With almost eerie timeliness, debut novelist Blinder skillfully recreates the long-running romance of President Warren G. Harding with a woman half his age, simultaneously depicting an era that became notorious for financial chicanery at high levels of government. In the eyes of narrator Nan Britton, who bore Harding's illegitimate child, Harding was a great man brought down by his enemies and his need to be liked. When teenage Nan first encounters Harding, he is a modest Ohio publisher propelled to office by his flinty, ambitious wife, "the Duchess," and political associates who appreciate his malleability. After a reluctant Harding is elected to the Senate, Nan follows the easygoing Republican to Washington, where he can't resist her nubile charms. A series of wily maneuvers (of which he is unaware) propel Harding to the top of the 1920 Republican ticket and thence to the White House. From that point, the narrative bristles with suspense as a modest man grows into his potential as a statesman. Meanwhile, his trusted cronies indulge in a rampage of ruthless greed, culminating in the Teapot Dome scandal. Harding's sudden death, just after the scandals come to light but before he can declare his innocence, freezes history's judgment, making the man synonymous with the sins of his subordinates. Writing with economy and insight, Blinder is at his best in short, vividly cinematic takes as when, after the inauguration, a tactful Harding rides with his predecessor, a disillusioned and disapproving Woodrow Wilson. Although Blinder fails to convey the electricity of passion between Nan and Harding, he does do well in depicting how a woman obsessed by passion behaves. This is a book of considerable dash and charm, richly nuanced with character and shaded with political realities. Agent, Barbara Braun. (Jan.) FYI: Blinder is a forensic psychiatrist, a former mayor of San Anselmo, Calif., and has written nonfiction (Lovers; Husbands and Wives) and screenplays.