Jackie, Ethel, Joan : Women of Camelot

Jackie, Ethel, Joan : Women of Camelot





For the first time, a respected biographer focuses on the complex relationships among three famous Kennedy wives in a book that is at once absorbing, controversial, and heartbreaking.

Jacqueline Bouvier. Ethel Skakel. Joan Bennett. Three women who married into America's royal family and lived in the glory and glare of politics' highest echelons. The Camelot years taught marekedly different life lessons to each of them: Jackie's hopes became reality, but at an unfathomable cost; Ethel's dream to be First Lady died along with her brutally assassinated husband; and Joan's years as a Kennedy were the most confusing of her life. But whether dealing with their husbands' blatant infidelities, smiling on the campaign trail, enhancing the family's legacy, or raising their children, the Kennedy wives did it all with unquestioned grace, style, and dignity.What a great idea for a deep-dish tell-all! JFK's lonely, classy wife, Bobby's athletic, competitive wife, and Ted's meek, alcoholic wife, together at last between covers, soothing each other when not fighting like fishwives. Taraborrelli's breathless prose makes you a fly on the wall when formidable mother-in-law Rose Kennedy walks in on Joan commiserating with Ethel about their honeymoons: "I think Bobby was finished before I got into the room!" said Ethel. "Now what are you ladies talking about?" asked Rose. Jackie, who was present, cooed, "Oh, we were just saying how well Bobby sleeps at night." "He gets that from me," said Rose.

Ethel should never have been so catty when gentle, simple Joan joined the clan: "Goodbye wine and cheese," hissed Ethel. "Hello macaroni and cheese." And she shouldn't have mocked Jackie for being unable to compete in touch football--with the Kennedys, it was more like "claw, scratch and bite" football. And what about when she rubbed it in that she and Bobby were closer than Jackie and Jack? After all, when Lee Remick phoned Ethel to say "You're on the way out," and Ethel replied that Bobby was home in bed, Bobby was in fact (says Taraborrelli) in bed with Lee Remick.

You may have heard that JFK's dad, Joe Kennedy, offered Jackie million not to divorce JFK, but did you hear Jackie's alleged reply? "The price goes up to million if Jack brings home any venereal diseases." Did Ethel betray Jackie's discontent to Joe--and then go ballistic when Joe only gave Ethel 0,000? You'd think Joan would be the clinker in the group, like Zeppo Marx. She was a bit dim, but should Ted have put her down as dumb? He's the one who showed up soused with a prostitute for dinner with the king and queen of Belgium, whose priceless antique couch Ted's date ruined by wetting it.

Who knows how historians will judge this book, but it sure does a great job of making history into a Jackie Collins novel. --Tim Appelo









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