Depending on how you define “memoir” — must it be a coherent narrative, or does a posthumous collection of diary entries suffice? — roughly a dozen first ladies of the United States have penned a total of more than 20 accounts of White House life ( Hillary Clinton, who simply will not be stopped, is responsible for four on her own).

Perhaps even more intriguing, however, have been the rhetorical offerings of Mr Trump’s wife, Melania, who says almost nothing at all. Now, less than a month before election day, Mrs Trump has published a memoir,