August 2024

Yes, there have been many books written about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, but I really appreciate the fresh way that Dawn Tripp wrote her novel, JACKIE. Dawn explores Jackie’s love of literature and how she applied her intellect and desire to learn throughout her entire life. She looks at Jackie and Jack as intellectuals who challenged each other, and what she brought to his world as well as to the country. While Jackie was known as a style and fashion icon, Dawn pulls back her many layers, ensuring that her life is viewed more broadly. There are nuggets tucked between the pages that I am sure will be news to you, as they were to me.

Dawn conducted extensive research about Jackie before she began writing, exploring not only books about Jack and Jackie, but also books that Jackie had read. Yes, the JFK assassination is there…and what we know about it. But there is so much more beyond that. This is not a gossipy read, but rather a smart one where the writer and photographer of the “Inquiring Camera Girl” newspaper column showed the world a whole lot more. JACKIE was my nighttime read for a few weeks. I devoured a few chapters before going to bed, and I loved every minute of it.