This December, Rep. Steve Israel, a Democratic congressman from Long Island, will publish his first novel, “The Global War on Morris” — about a guy from Long Island who is “seduced by a lonely, lovesick receptionist.”

Is it art imitating life?

Israel won’t say, but his odd marriage is the talk of his district. While he made a point of announcing to the media in 2011 that he was divorcing his wife, no legal action was ever filed.

Three years later, Israel and Marlene Budd, an acting state Supreme Court judge in Suffolk County Family Court, are still married. And friends of the judge say the reason is a cynical one.

“He made a statement so that he could be free to cavort without raising eyebrows,” said a source close to the couple.

Budd made several attempts to reconcile but was stymied because Israel said he was interested only if he could “sleep with other women,” the source told The Post.

Israel, 56, chairman of the powerful Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, refused to say why he hasn’t filed for divorce and dismissed other questions.

“These allegations are untrue, laughable at best and clearly a political stunt two days before an election,” his spokeswoman said.

Israel faces Republican Grant Lally at the polls Tuesday.

Budd, 49, refused to comment. The couple lives separately.

The divorce announcement may have helped ­Israel in other ways.

He blamed the split for forcing a short sale of his Long Island home, which wiped away nearly $100,000 in mortgage debt.

The couple, who met serving together on the Huntington Town Board, had bought a three-bedroom home with a swimming pool in Dix Hills for $580,000 in 2004, the year after they married.

Records show they first put the home up for sale for $649,966 in 2010, before the May 2011 divorce announcement. It was taken off the market and put up for sale again in August 2011.

The home finally sold in 2012 for $460,000, which was less than the $553,000 owed on the mortgage.

JPMorgan Chase approved a short sale allowing the couple to walk away from $93,000 in debt.

“Steve and his wife are going through a divorce and were forced to sell their home in a market that everyone understands,” ­Israel’s spokeswoman told The Post at the time.

Critics charged that ­Israel got special treatment, but he contended that he asked House ethics officials about it and that his lawyer handled discussions with the bank.

Israel is among the poorest members of Congress, with the Roll Call blog ranking him No. 491 in wealth out of 535, according to the Roll Call blog. He had a net worth of negative $300,000 in 2013.

Israel owed between $250,001 to $500,000 on a condo in Washington, DC and took out a personal loan of between $15,001 to $50,000 last year, his financial-disclosure report says.

Perhaps Israel’s new ­career as a novelist will turn that around.

Billed as political satire, “The Global War on Morris” follows a pharmaceutical salesman as his life is is billed as political satire, as his pharmaceutical-salesman hero’s life is upended by that amorous receptionist and a government surveillance program.