First published 2016
Rose Kennedy stands in her Hyannis Port garden, watching her sons prepare for another campaign. She has buried four children and witnessed her husband's ruthless climb to power. Now Jack occupies the White House while Bobby serves as his attorney general, but Rose knows the costs of their success. She remembers Joe Jr.'s death in the war, Kathleen's fatal plane crash, and Rosemary's lobotomy that Joe Sr. arranged in secret. The family's Catholic faith anchors Rose through each crisis, yet she struggles with her husband's infidelities and the moral compromises their political dynasty demands. As the Kennedy name reaches its zenith, Rose must reconcile her role as devoted mother with the sacrifices she has made for family ambition. Her story reveals the private woman behind America's most public family.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, biography-memoir, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, political-intrigue
Setting: Hyannis Port, White House
Period: 20th Century
43 pages · Paperback · Dramatist's Play Service
Content warnings: death, mental-illness