Is there a more iconic American woman than Jacqueline Kennedy? Much has been written about her and yet she still retains an air of mystery.

In this novel Dawn Tripp successfully imagines Jackie's life with a carefully researched title. Readers follow Jackie over a period of many years. They will learn more about her life before Jack, her courtship and marriage to both him and to Onassis, her role as a mother, her career, her cancer diagnosis and much more in this well written narrative. Readers will witness both the tragedy and the inner strength that defined this most impressive woman.

Tripp has written a long (over 450 pages) and immersive novel. It is very easy to recommend this title to historical fiction readers and those who are intrigued by the myth of this woman.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Jackie is the story of a brilliant and special soul, destined to face some of the worst tragedies in American history: the assassinations of her husband John F. Kennedy and her brother-in-law, Bobby, her marriage and divorce from Onassis, plus all the scandals in which his family will be involved.
Jackie lived most of her life under the scrutiny of public opinion, which we already know is anything but gentle.
This book is magnificent: With an exceptional bibliography, masterfully written and narrated in the first person, in such a way that at times it seems that Jackie is speaking directly to the reader and telling him about her life, experiences and her most intimate thoughts.
An essential read for those who want to know more about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, the woman who gave rise to the myth.
I thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
The opinion I have expressed above is based solely on what I think and feel about this book.

I didn't know Jackie was such a dedicated bookwoman, someone who read about books and read books where ever she was. Jack would circle books in the New York Times Book Review to buy each week, and they read and discussed eveything. Dawn Tripp's elegant and passionate novel lets us in on the kind of electric attraction they felt for each other, and the trauma Jackie never recovered from after 11/22/63. Her flight to Onassis was because he could protect her from the Kennedy family, the politics, and the demands that were crushing her after the assassination. She never really had a home, and spent much of her life in briefly rented properties, some with horses, some with a beach. occasionally with both. Her focus was protecting her children, sharing with them the love of beauty that gave her life glow.

I loved this novel. Jackie is surprisingly relatable figure, with her ragged fingernails, old jeans, and pilled sweaters she wears at home. Her intellect was blazing, her intuition was finely tuned, and she lived a life lonely of people, but filled with books, art, and a love of beauty. Who could she have been if she were born thirty years later?

A fine and encompassing novel, and I thank NetGalley, Dawn Tripp, and Random House Publishing for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

What a great book! I could not put this down. Full of history and rich story-telling. I enjoyed this book!

This book represents the best of what historical fiction can accomplish. Meticulously researched, Dawn Tripp's Jackie captures the spirit of the woman known to all Americans. As a historian, I particularly enjoyed how Tripp wove historical context into Jackie's story because it really helped bring her to life and showed her as a woman of her time. I have read other fictionalized versions of Jackie Kennedy's life, but this one is by far the best. Highly recommend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Jackie by Dawn Tripp kept me engaged until the very end. She gave voice to Jackie's experience, but also entwined JFK's perspective as well which I thought was SO effective. I felt Jackie's pain and anguish as she grieved and tried to form a life for herself, flawed as it might be. The turmoil of the 1960s was very engaging and well developed and brought that era to life. Her relationship was Onassis was briefly explored as well as her final days. This biofic did Jackie justice because the bought the complexities and nuances of relationships to life. Beautifully written.
Thanks to #NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

While I love to read historical fiction about the famous Kennedys, I hesitated with this one because I have already read other books told from Jackie's perspective. I am glad I took the plunge with Jackie by Dawn Tripp because it was probably the most beautifully written novel I have read about the Kennedys.

This book covers the period when Jackie first met JFK in 1951, following up to the presidency and assassination, through her marriage to Onassis up to her death in 1994. Told in fiction as through her voice, the author has done the research to make the book feel authentic, and Jackie has left enough documentation to make that possible. The writing was poetic and insightful. I highlighted many passages including, "You don't stay with someone because they hurt you, I could say. You stay for the slight and mythical promise of a dream that once meant so much you were willing to trade a different future for it. You stay for what you gave up."

I will recommend this to readers who like historical fiction about the Kennedys and women's fiction in general.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’m sure we’ve all learned a lot about the Kennedy years. Even though this book is historical fiction, it’s the first time I’ve read from Jackie’s perspective. It was almost like reading her diary. Even though some conversations are made up, this book is so well researched and it is rooted in history and actual events. Written in first person, it reminded me of Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld.
I loved learning more about Jackie – as a mother, wife, sister, daughter-in-law, and especially as an advisor to JFK. While we know the impact that Jackie had on the world – for example through her fashion and updating of the White House – this book also shows her as an policy and communications asset to JFK’s presidency, both nationally and internationally. In this book, we see his presidency through her eyes.
As the timeline moved closer to November 1963, I could feel my anxiety and sadness rising as I read about JFK’s assassination from Jackie’s perspective. My kids are basically the same ages as Caroline and John were then, and my heart aches for what they went through at such a young age. I had similar feelings as the book entered 1968, knowing that Bobby Kennedy would suffer the same fate as his brother.
It takes a good writer to evoke those feelings while reading. It felt like I was truly reading how Jackie experienced these events.

“Dawn Tripp’s meticulous research and masterful storytelling are as eloquent and captivating as the timeless, elegant, and iconic Jackie. A classic! Top Books of 2024.”

The world has divided my life into three:
~Life with Jack
~Life with Onassis
~Life as a woman who goes to work because she wants to.

"My life is all of these things, and it is none of these things. They continue to miss what’s right in front of them. I love books. I love the sea. I love horses. Children. Art. Ideas. History. Beauty. Because beauty blows us open to wonder. Even the beauty that breaks your heart."

About...

JACKIE was a beautiful, grand, inspiring, and fascinating woman who led many lives as Jackie, Jacks, Jacqueline, Miss Bouvier, Mrs. Kennedy, and Jackie O. Women everywhere loved her chic elegant style. But there was so much more to the woman behind the man. She was intelligent and charming, a wife, mother, lover, grandmother, and First Lady. She adored her children and grandchildren. She did not plan on falling for an American man or politics, but she fell in love.

A popular first lady, she endeared herself to the American public with her devotion to her family, dedication to the historic preservation of the White House, campaigns she led to preserve and restore historic landmarks and architecture, and interest in American history, culture, and the arts.

The author takes readers from before she met Jack, her life, loves, dreams, intimate thoughts, and desires to their complex marriage, the birth and loss of her children, the assassination, the grief, her close relationship with Bobby, brother-in-law, and her marriage to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, its problems, and later an independent career woman in a publishing house as editor getting to share her love of books to her diagnosis of cancer.

JACKIE is the story of a woman who has endured incredible trauma and loss and strives to forge an independent life while balancing societal and cultural expectations. The author's unique approach to reimagining Jackie's voice, thoughts, and interactions with her circle of family, friends, and acquaintances brilliantly captures her beautiful spirit. This fresh perspective adds a new layer of understanding to how she felt and perceived those around her.

From the complex nuances of her heart, wit, vulnerability, and intellect—the intimate realness of her as a human being— reimagining those moments from her point of view as she might have experienced them.

My thoughts...

As a baby boomer who doesn't love Jackie? It was like yesterday in the sixth grade when the teacher came into the room crying when we learned of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and our thoughts of Jackie. They were married one year after I was born, and my mom used to talk fondly of Jackie and even dressed like her—very tasteful.

Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, Jackie was a woman we admired. She worked to shape her own identity and brand in progressive ways.

I enjoyed the parts about Jackie and her personal thoughts, dreams, and love of books. The author brilliantly explores the complex politics of power, love, marriage, and gender throughout the novel. Jackie’s fierce love for her children shaped her determination to create a stable sense of family despite the extraordinary circumstances she faced.

An impressive lyrical masterpiece!
I devoured this dazzling portrait of Jackie Kennedy an American icon.

“The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.”
—E.L. Doctorow

Indeed, the author exceeds all expectations, exploring all facets of Jackie in an appealing and intimate way. JACKIE is one you will want to read more than once.

JACKIE is vivid, gorgeously written, and meticulously researched, offering a dazzling inside look into this fascinating woman. Jackie would be proud. I have read many books about Jackie's life; however, Dawn Tripp's reimagining of Jackie is my favorite. I loved this book!

Absorbing and affecting, ideal for book clubs. Check out the extensive and fascinating Book Club Kit and resources, recipes, a letter from the author, discussion questions, a playlist, a couple's favorite books, and more. I enjoyed the Author's note and the additional reading sources. I LOVED the playlist—all of my all-time favorites.

I loved Tripp's GEORGIA Georgia O’Keeffe, (5 stars); however, JACKIE is a (5 Stars ++). I highly recommend both

A mesmerizing must-read in all formats!
~Hardcover (a classic for any bookshelf)
~e-book (to highlight all the many quotes)
~Audiobook (characters come alive with favorite talented narrators: Linda Jones and Karissa Vacker).

Personal note...

My apologies for the delay in posting my review. Like President Kennedy—I, too, have Addison's Disease, a condition affecting stress hormones with adrenal insufficiency and low cortisol levels. My cortisol levels, since last week, are at an extremely low (2) life-threatening level with severe fatigue and other issues that warrant back on steroids (with all its nasty side effects). However, you have to be careful not to get too much cortisol or develop Cushing's disease (the opposite, which I have also experienced). I am running behind on reading, work, and writing reviews.

Thanks to Random House for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy via Netgalley. Also purchased the hardcover and the audiobook.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: June 18, 2024
My Rating: 5 Stars ++
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I loved every single page of this book, so much so that I picked it to be my monthly book pick of July and I am telling every historical fiction fan to get it.

We all know the story of Jack and Jackie, a love story that ended tragically on November 22, 1963, but this novel gives us a look into what their private lives might have been like. We see the two of them, meeting, conversing, falling in love, the affairs, the babies, the Presidency, and of course, the loss.

I loved how the book told the story but also gave us a look at what each person might have been thinking at different stages of their lives together.

I loved the way Ms. Tripp was inspired by photographs of the couple and then spun a story around those photographs, it was brilliant and very well written.

This novel follows the fictionalized but historically influences life of the woman known as Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

This novel begins with a snapshot of the immediate aftermath of the assassination of JFK and what could be going through her mind in those moments. We jump right into the day Jackie met the man who was going to end up being her husband. We follow her journey from that day forward. Her work as a reporter, reluctantly dating Jack to quickly falling for him. Everything she gave up for his political career, motherhood, what it was like being the First Lady. The tremendous losses she experienced in life, her second marriage to a man who both helped her and hurt her. Her rise to adoration and the fall from grace. Her career in publishing, and her years living life on her own terms.

The days of Jackie O and JFK were way before my time, but their story and legacy shaped the way life is lived today. I have always been fascinated by the woman Jackie was, and this fictionalized exploration of her life really filled the gap in my knowledge. It made me think of her as a human being rather than the figurehead I saw her as. The author did such a good job of really making Jackie come to life on the page. It must have required hours upon hours of research to get the character and events right, and although we will never really truly know all the facets that comprised Jackie, I can definitely admire the work the author put in and her interpretation of perspective of Jackie.

I really enjoyed this Historical Fiction book about Jackie Kennedy. There are so many books about her life but in this book, its told from HER point of view.

Most of the story is focused on her life with President Kennedy, for obvious reasons. I found it interesting what she was actually feeling after the President was assassinated because Mrs. Kennedy handled herself with grace during the televised funeral. I also liked her opinion on who killed her husband. Yes, history says that it was Lee Harvey Oswald, however, she was convinced that President Kennedy's view on Civil Rights made her think there was perhaps more than one killer.

I sympathized with Mrs. Kennedy Kennedy throughout her life story. It was no big secret that President Kennedy was a womanizer but you finally get the sense of how she handled the situation. In the end, she does not regret the love she gave to JFK.

Jackie Kennedy was an incredible mother, a devoted wife, and a First Lady like no other. She in a class of her own.

I highly recommend this book about this fascinating women!

This was a really interesting read! I really didn't know much about Jackie or her husband or a lot of the history around this time so I loved learning about all of this. I also enjoyed the writing style of this book. It felt like a memoir, very personal and detailed. With that said, it was so heartbreaking and sad at times. And that is not a bad thing-I love when books make me feel just a bit of what those main characters are going through. I did feel like the book was a tad too long but I think Jackie enthusiasts or history buffs will love all of the extra details. I will definitely recommend this book!

Jackie Kennedy is a historical person that has always intrigued me. I love to hear her accounts of the life she lived. I always thought the life she lived was charmed but the more I read the more I realize how much she was put through to get through the life she was living.

I liked that while I was reading a historical fiction book, Dawn Tripp (the author) stayed very true to history. I enjoyed reading another perspective of the Kennedy legacy. It is amazing to me how much I am able to retain from reading a good historical fiction book vs. how little I retained while taking history courses in school.

Jackie is a great historical fiction book. There were a few times that I felt I was reading non-fiction and it got a little dull. I felt some of the paragraphs were repetitive or out of sequence but maybe that is because I have read or listened to so many Jackie/Jack Kennedy books that I am so familiar with their lives.

Over all, this is a great historical fiction book. If you are a fan of the Kennedy’s I recommend picking up your own copy.

I loved this book so much. I have always been fascinated with the Kennedys. This story is a fictionalized account of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy as she moves through her life; a young girl falling in love, the First Lady, her marriage to Aristotle Onassis, and her time as a book editor in New York City. The author did meticulous research to bring alive Jackie's story and it keeps the pages moving.

A fictionalized account of a legendary woman. There are so many books about JFK and most books on Jackie revolve around the men in her liffe instead of a true look at the woman herself. Even though fiction, the book reads as a really great biography told in the first person. My book club is going to love this one.

“Jackie” by Dawn Tripp is the best book I have read about her. I have always been fascinated with Jackie and Jack. As someone once said they were our American Royalty. This is a work of historical fiction but it is so much more.

The story begins during the earliest encounters between Jackie and Jack through their marriage, his Presidency, her four pregnancies, his assassination, her relationship with Aristotle Onassis and her return to New York City to work at a book publisher through her death. The story covers a very long period of time.

The interesting part of this book is the perspective. The bulk of the book is written through Jackie’s point of view. Ms. Tripp has painstakingly researched this historical icon. You actually feel that you are in Jackie’s head. You see things through her eyes, experience her feelings of joy, sadness, devastating loss, her deep love and devotion to her children and grandchildren to mention a few.

While some of these events are what most of us already know, the difference is the events are seen through the lens of Jackie. Ms. Tripp expertly weaves these historical events together with Jackie’s singular perspective. I see this book as a wonderful accomplishment for Ms. Tripp. While much of what happens in the book is based on evidence, it is the beautiful prose and excellent writing that allows this story to take flight.

In her Author’s Note, (placed front and center before the book even begins) Ms. Tripp makes her project clear: “There are many stellar, insightful nonfiction works written about Jackie. I believe that fiction, when it hews to the historical record, can access a different kind of truth, an experiential truth that allows us to enter the emotional heart of a story.” Ms.Tripp asks the reader to ponder the different chapters of Jackie’s life.

Ms. Tripp provides a lengthy list of all of her sources, which she used to inspire scenes in the novel and help guide her portrayal of this complex woman. This was a book that I found difficult to put down. If you are a fan of Jackie this is a must read. If you want to learn about Jackie, this is a must read. Ms. Tripp has written a book that will stay with me for a very long time. Very well done! I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next.

I would like to thank Ms. Tripp, Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jackie. She’s so much a part of America’s history that it only takes her first name to conjure many images—a slender, fashion-setting silhouette wearing a fashionable hat, a distraught woman climbing out of the car after her husband was shot, or a grieving woman standing with two precious children at a casket. But her life reached much further than the images we have stained into our collective consciousness, and that’s what author Dawn Tripp explores in this intimate novel. Sometimes I had to remind myself that it was historical fiction and not a memoir.

I believed every word Tripp wrote, which makes me wonder how the Kennedy family would perceive this book. How on target is this meticulously researched portrait of a remarkable woman? Could she have had the very thoughts the author imagined? I was hooked. Plus, Tripp’s writing is gorgeous. I found myself underlining and highlighting lyrical prose repeatedly.

Whether you think of her as Jackie, Miss Bouvier, Mrs. Kennedy, or Jackie O, you’ll be drawn into Camelot’s magical world in a way you’ve never experienced. This book is hypnotic, poetic, and tender. I highly recommend it.

This is the story of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Jackie was many things – wife to an American President, a mother to Carolyn and John Kennedy Jr., a widow, a wife again with Onassis and a career woman working as a book editor. She was a woman who was very private and protective of her children.

I have read several non-fiction works about Jackie and but this was the first one I had read that was historical fiction. In my opinion, it was a well researched book, but I have to say that I found the poetic quotes tiring after a while. Jackie apparently loved poetry so it made sense to include these in the book, but as I am not a lover of poetry, I did find these sections dragged.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

If you follow my stories you already know that Jackie was my favorite book for the month of May. I’m so grateful my friend rimc suggested it as our monthly pick for the rsrbc as we had a great zoom chat discussing our love for the book.

The first thing we need to discuss is that cover. It is striking and was the launching point for this story - what was going on between Jackie and JFK in this moment?

Jackie is not your typical historical fiction novel. Instead, the author essentially becomes Jackie. We know a lot about the Kennedy family and the assassination. This book provides a close look at what might have been happening behind the scene’s, from Jackie’s perspective. The amount of research this book required is obvious but it never reads like a text book. Rather it is intimate, personal, and kept me absolutely engaged for all 500 pages.

I’ve already purchased my tickets to attend a luncheon when the author comes to San Diego. I can’t wait to meet her and tell her in person how much I loved her book!