First published 2014
John F. Kennedy Jr. grows up in the shadow of tragedy, watching his mother Jackie Kennedy Onassis struggle with depression and prescription drug dependency after Dallas. Jackie battles her demons while trying to guide her son through his own turbulent path. She watches him date Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Daryl Hannah, often disapproving of his choices. When John marries Carolyn Bessette, their relationship becomes stormy and complicated. Jackie must confront her feelings about the women who compete for her son's attention. The mother and son share an intense bond marked by tenderness and conflict. Their relationship reaches across decades of public scrutiny and private pain. When John's plane crashes, taking his life, their story ends in sudden tragedy. At its heart, this is the story of two people trying to love each other despite the weight of history and the burden of being Kennedys.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, biography-memoir, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, grief, mother-son-relationship
Setting: Dallas
Period: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s
368 pages · Kindle Edition · Gallery Books
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness, substance-abuse