This is a book that needs no subtitle. Although we all know what happened on the night of November 8 – the most prepared candidate in the history of, not just American politics but in the history of preparedness, lost to a man who entered the race because Barack Obama had made some jokes about him years before – none of us really know how it happened.

This extraordinary memoir by an extraordinary politician offers flashes suggesting that Hillary Rodham Clinton knows exactly how it happened. But at other times, it descends into the sort of score settling that is meant to immunise her from blame.

Like any good book these days, it begins at the end: the end of the campaign, the end of a dream and the end of a career. The days after her shock election defeat offer some of the most candid passages, as she explores what it was like to have failed so publicly and so spectacularly.

Friends recommend the power of Xanax and various therapists. There is Chardonnay, comfy clothes and meditation. “If you’ve never done alternate nostril breathing, it’s worth a try,” she offers breezily. Bill recommends television, in particular NCIS: Los Angeles (the best in the franchise in his view).