A new book by historian William Chafe, entitled “Bill and Hillary,” dissects the couple’s marriage  and alleges that Bill Clinton asked Hillary for a divorce in 1990 before he embarked on his long- shot bid for the presidency.

William Chafe is currently a Professor of History at Duke University and a highly regarded historian.

The book, reviewed in Sunday’s New York Times, alleges that in 1990 Bill wanted to leave Hillary for an energy-company executive named Marilyn Jo Jenkins.

Chafe says that Bill asked Hillary for a divorce but the future first lady refused.

It seems that Clinton was still very much in love with Jenkins at the time he won the White House.

In 2008, during Hillary’srun for president ,the Daily Mail alleged that the day they were to leave Little Rock for the White House in 1992, Jenkins came to the basement office of the governor’s mansion for a 5.15am meeting.

State troopers alleged that Jenkins and Clinton had met very frequently since the late 1980s.

Jenkins and Clinton always denied a sexual relationship and she claimed she had helped him through a personal crisis.

He admitted he had been to her apartment at least ten times and his lawyer, Robert Bennett stated that he had a “forlorn and wistful” look when he talked about her.

Ultimately however, Chafe says Bill and Hillary is a love story – they have been married over thirty years, have overcome all obstacles and are grandparents in waiting after daughter Chelsea’s wedding.