The Secret Memoirs of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - by Ruth Francisco (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Jackie Kennedy quite famously said, "I want to live my life, not record it." She remains elusive, her interior life hidden, her feelings and motivations secret. Yet who has not wondered what lay behind those sunglasses? Haven't we all wondered how Jackie felt about Jack's womanizing? How could she not have known? How did she tolerate it? How did her childhood passions and turbulent family life shape her choices? How did her love of fashion and culture influence the White House? What did she think about Marilyn Monroe? Why did she ever marry Onassis? What made her take a job in publishing when she clearly didn't need one? How did she endure the loss of her babies, the pressure of the Kennedy political machine, the murder of her husband, the never ending paparazzi, and the news of her imminent death?

In this powerful, poignant, and sweeping novel, Ruth Francisco tells Jackie's story in Jackie's voice and boldly plunges into the subtext of her public life, reimagining her thoughts and feelings between the lines of recorded history.

Review Quotes

"Wow, Ruth Francisco is a wonderful writer. Her talent is enormous. She has both the eye and heart of a poet and each of her scenes is like a perfect painting. Her re-creation of biographical characters and historical places and events is amazing. I can't remember when I first read a writer of such immense ability. I think she's probably a major literary figure in the making." --James Lee Burke, author of Crusader's Cross

"A piercingly intimate study..." --The Daily News

"Intriguing. Imaginative." --Orange Coast magazine

"... a wonderful work of research and imagination. With this book Ruth Francisco underlines the power of fiction when it comes to telling the truth about who we are." --Michael Connelly, bestselling author of Lincoln Lawyer

"A convincing voice for America's most glamorous first lady.... Francisco's prose is like a dream--the sort of dream that throbs and twists underneath the consciousness of everyday life. This is a work of fiction, but in its frayed ends and emotional rawness, it reads as true.... This is a book most anyone can admire and--more crucially--slip into and inhabit." --Edge magazine

"[Francisco's] goal was to portray a three dimensional woman. She succeeds brilliantly.... Ruth Francisco...has brought Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to life on the pages of The Secret Memoirs... Francisco's prose is outstanding.... A real winner." --mostlyfiction.com

"...one of the most audacious novels of the year....The author has immersed herself in the known facts and added her own imagination to create a book that is going to please a lot of people..." --bookview.com

About the Author

Ruth Francisco is the author of the critically acclaimed literary mysteries Confessions of a Deathmaiden and Good Morning, Darkness. She currently lives in Los Angeles.