Publishers Weekly
★ 07/09/2018
Authors Kashner (Sinatraland) and Schoenberger (Furious Love) examine the tangled lives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her younger sister Lee B. Radziwill in this fascinating biography. The story of the two famous sisters begins with their idyllic childhood at the Bouvier summer home in East Hampton, N.Y. At times, they are close conspirators (as seen on a sojourn in France when they were young), and at others jealous, competitive, and nearly estranged (Kennedy Onassis left not even “a trinket” to Radziwill in her will). The authors recreate the turbulent years when the elder sister was First Lady, bringing readers back to the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of JFK (and, later, Sen. Robert Kennedy). While Jackie struggled to rebuild her life, eventually marrying Aristotle Onassis and later becoming an editor at Doubleday, Radziwill fell for offbeat photographer Peter Beard, divorced her second husband, opened an interior design business, and married (and divorced) a film director. Readers drawn to the Kennedy mystique will savor this intricate chronicle rife with romance, tragedy, and surprising details, such as that Jackie may have helped choose JFK’s paramours. The authors provide an intimate view of two sisters, both famous in their own rights. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
This lavish portrait plumbs the tensions between bookish, regal Jackie and “lady-in-waiting” Lee, who sought the limelight only to be eclipsed by her iconic sister.” — O magazine
“Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger paint a lush picture of the complicated relationship between sisters Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill.... Gossipy gems are studded throughout.” — Vanity Fair
“Don’t be too put off by the salacious title – though the co-writers definitely don’t avoid gossipy material, their book is no hatchet job, and actually draws from extensive interviews with Radziwill, who’s now 84 years old. The result is a lively and highly entertaining profile of two dynamic and super-stylish sibling-rivals.” — BBC America
“[A] taut and fascinating work.” — In Style
“The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters is journalism. . . . it is a tale for the curious, with an excellent index allowing readers to retrace their steps as the plot thickens.” — East Hampton Star
“To-be-devoured-like-a-box-of-chocolates, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberg’s juicy page-turner, The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters is. . . . a poignant account.” — Wag Mag
“A complex portrait of Jackie and Lee Bouvier and how their lives and loves defined them and their relationship as sisters.” — Shelf Awareness
“One would think there couldn’t be much more to say about Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, but The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters proves otherwise. So many gossipy stories and recollections fill this breezy and entertaining, yet informative, read.” — Bookreporter.com
“Readers drawn to the Kennedy mystique will savor this intricate chronicle rife with romance, tragedy, and surprising details, such as that Jackie may have helped choose JFK’s paramours. The authors provide an intimate view of two sisters, both famous in their own rights.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Suffice it to say, more than 50 years on, explorations of the truths and fictions of Camelot continue to mesmerize.” — Kirkus Reviews
Vanity Fair
Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger paint a lush picture of the complicated relationship between sisters Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill.... Gossipy gems are studded throughout.
BBC America
Don’t be too put off by the salacious title – though the co-writers definitely don’t avoid gossipy material, their book is no hatchet job, and actually draws from extensive interviews with Radziwill, who’s now 84 years old. The result is a lively and highly entertaining profile of two dynamic and super-stylish sibling-rivals.
Bookreporter.com
One would think there couldn’t be much more to say about Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, but The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters proves otherwise. So many gossipy stories and recollections fill this breezy and entertaining, yet informative, read.
O magazine
This lavish portrait plumbs the tensions between bookish, regal Jackie and “lady-in-waiting” Lee, who sought the limelight only to be eclipsed by her iconic sister.
Shelf Awareness
A complex portrait of Jackie and Lee Bouvier and how their lives and loves defined them and their relationship as sisters.
Wag Mag
To-be-devoured-like-a-box-of-chocolates, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberg’s juicy page-turner, The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters is. . . . a poignant account.
East Hampton Star
The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters is journalism. . . . it is a tale for the curious, with an excellent index allowing readers to retrace their steps as the plot thickens.
In Style
[A] taut and fascinating work.
Kirkus Reviews
2018-06-27
A story of sisterhood that reveals how all the fortune and fame in the world can't assuage sibling rivalry.With the exception of their parent' divorce, it's hard to imagine a more charmed youth than that of young Jacqueline and Lee Bouvier. These two remarkable women, who would go on to become first lady to President John F. Kennedy and princess to Prince Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill, had seemingly every possible advantage. However, Vanity Fair vets Kashner and Shoenberger (co-authors: Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century, 2010, etc.) write, the sisters' relationship was a lifelong balance of love and envy. Case in point: Jackie would go on to marry Aristotle Onassis, Lee's former lover. With entirely opposite personalities—Lee was outgoing and dramatic, Jackie demur and shy—each seemingly wound up with what would have been the other's ideal life. In this well-researched dual biography, the authors describe how that fate would both haunt and help them. But while the story is essentially about the sisters, the narrative favors Lee's perspective, showcasing the often misunderstood socialite's battle with wanting to be more than just a pretty face. Of course, it was hard to shake that label given the philosophy the girls' father—failed Wall Street stock broker and alcoholic John Vernou Bouvier III—ingrained in them: "Style…is not a function of how rich you are or even who you are. Style is more a habit of mind that puts quality before quantity, noble struggle before mere achievement, honor before opulence. It's what you are….It's what makes you a Bouvier." Living up to such an ideal would become Lee's Achilles heel, and her illustrious love life often overshadowed her attempts at self-actualization. Not surprisingly, the supporting casts—Truman Capote, Peter Beard et al.—in the lives of the Bouvier sisters were just as flawed and fascinating.Suffice it to say, more than 50 years on, explorations of the truths and fictions of Camelot continue to mesmerize.
