Special Relationship

It's late October 1992, and 21-year-old Tom Hamilton, son of top London literary agent Anne, has just learned that his biological father is a certain saxophone-playing former Rhodes scholar who is now running hard for the U.S. presidency. That's the premise of Sisman's first novel, which redeems its titillating concept through fluid writing and well-wrought characters. Anne's liaison with Jordan Hope two decades before at Oxford isn't the only secret in her past, as she learns from her dying mother in Chicago, where she has traveled to meet clandestinely with Jordan to discuss the paternity situation. Meanwhile, Tom, seeking Jordan on his own, stops in Manhattan to visit his godmother, the keeper of yet more family secrets. The narrative includes a long and rambunctious flashback to the Oxford and London of the 1960s and their subcultures of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and protest marches. Insider details about the publishing business in London and New York add further to the hard-edged excitement, although the novel's conclusion is too pat. To Sisman's credit, what at first glance appears to be trading on tabloidism turns out to be a fine bit of storytelling, a captivating roman a clef in which politics and passion mix with bombshell potential. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections. (July)