Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah
What's It About?
Jacqueline in Paris (Mariner) sparkles like the sky in Paris on a crystal clear night and is equally as entrancing as Ann Mah’s previous book The Lost Vintage.This current novel is an expansion of her New York Times article: A Year in Paris that Transformed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis published in June, 2019. Vast numbers of biographies, newspaper and magazine articles have been published about the former First Lady and her storied life.
Although Jacqueline in Paris is a novel of historical fiction, it is so well researched and richly detailed it could easily be mistaken for a work of non-fiction.
HISTORICAL FICTION CAPTURES A CULTURAL ICON
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, like Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana, remains a cultural and fashion icon and was considered to be a polished yet reluctant media superstar throughout most of her lifetime.
A few years before Jacqueline Bouvier was introduced to John F. Kennedy and thereafter subjected to constant public scrutiny, she was able to enjoy a year of the rare freedom and anonymity afforded to a college student studying in post-war Paris.
The city, though not destroyed as Hitler ordered, hadn’t fully recovered from the damage inflicted by World War II and the lengthy German occupation. Many public buildings and private residences had been left in need of repair and food shortages endured. There were few cars on the streets, residences lacked adequate heat, power outages occurred with alarming regularity and water was so scarce baths were limited to once weekly.
Coffee, sugar and cooking oils were still rationed when Miss Bouvier arrived at her host family’s apartment. Her living accommodations, pre-arranged by her mother, Janet Auchincloss, were with widowed, impoverished Countess Guyot de Renty in a large apartment shared with her family.
During the recent war, the countess and daughters, active members of the French Resistance, had been arrested and tortured by the Nazis. The countess barely survived imprisonment in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp and her husband had been executed. After these ordeals, she was not one to impose curfews on her American boarders; however, some of the skimpy meals and dubious meats served bordered on horrific.
FREEDOM FOR THE SOON-TO-BE FIRST LADY
It was the first time Jacqueline was an ocean away from her domineering socialite mother, Janet Auchincloss and her bill-paying powerful attorney/stockbroker stepfather, Hugh Dudley Auchincloss II. What a breath of fresh air it must have been after a lifetime of adhering to being educated, polished and groomed in order to marry a wealthy, socially prominent man to temporarily be able to make her own choices.
The bird was temporarily freed of her gilded cage but ever mindful not to cause a hint of scandal nor jeopardize her future prospects. Her mother’s divorce from “Black Jack” Bouvier had certainly created sufficient ripples in their social circle when finalized in 1940.
The perpetually tanned and impeccably dressed flamboyant playboy was an alcoholic, gambler and womanizer who successfully squandered his share of the family fortune. The latter was the unpardonable sin for Janet Lee Bouvier and an object lesson for his two young daughters, Jacqueline and (Caroline) Lee who both abhorred the idea of impunity.
LIFE SHAPED BY A RIGID UPBRINGING
Jacqueline Bouvier had lived a privileged yet strictly regulated and disciplined childhood with an education at the finest private girl’s schools. She was a boarding student at the ultra-elite Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut for her final three years of high school.
This rigorous college preparatory and finishing school, established in 1843, was dedicated to graduating women who were well-bred, tastefully dressed and gracious hostesses able to manage a household of servants.
While expected to excel in academic subjects and athletics, few would aspire to be world leaders, as they were primarily schooled to become upper-crust socialite wives of wealthy, powerful men. The girls were carefully coached to be graceful, well-mannered, poised yet demure, to speak softly and to be able to converse with grace on a myriad of subjects yet not to flaunt one’s education. They were encouraged to be loyal and by implication, accepting of their future husband’s expected indiscretions.
Jacqueline was an excellent student who wrote essays and poems from an early age and served as her school newspaper editor. She learned to ride horses almost as soon as she could walk and was a several-time national champion equestrienne by age 11.
Celebrity author Igor Cassini who wrote the Cholly Knickerbocker gossip column for the New York Journal-American for 18 years dubbed Jacqueline Bouvier the “Queen Debutant” for the 1947 season. (His older brother, fashion designer Oleg Cassini, already famed as the lead costume designer for Paramount Studios, and later his own fashion house became the First Lady’s exclusive couturier in 1961.)
Vassar College in rural Poughkeepsie, NY was chosen by her parents for her first two years where the ardent Francophile earnestly studied French language and literature. She managed to persuade them to allow her to transfer to the Smith College Junior Year Abroad Paris full immersion language learning program at Reid Hall Global Center for the academic year beginning in 1949.
The 30+ women in this group were required to sign an honor pledge to communicate solely in French in speech and writing including with their fellow classmates for the entire year.
The women studied language, literature, history and other subjects at Reid Hall and at the Sorbonne as well as painting classes at the Louvre. Parisian culture had revived and there were countless choices to visit museums, attend lectures and the full range of performing arts as well as friends to visit, dances and balls to attend and discreet romance to blossom.
THE HAPPIEST YEAR IN THE CITY OF LIGHT
Jacqueline in Paris is a gem of a novel by a noted travel and food writer who splits her time between Washington, DC and Paris and generously shares insights and her passion for the City of Light from a resident’s point of view.
Ann Mah richly imagines how Jacqueline Bouvier spent her days (and nights) during her Junior Year Abroad in Paris in 1949-1950. The former First Lady had stated this was the “happiest year” of her life.
It is a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and a fine selection for book clubs. With the right cast, it could be a charming movie or a made-for-television series. Anyone (like me) who was privileged to have spent a junior year abroad will be happy to relive their own memories.
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About Ann Mah:
Ann Mah is an American food and travel writer. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, the Washington Post, Vogue.com, Food52, Kitchn, BonAppétit.com, Best American Travel Writing, New York Times Footsteps, Washingtonian magazine and other publications. To read some of her recent work, take a look at Ann’s clips here.
Ann is the author of five books, including Jacqueline in Paris and The Lost Vintage, a USA Today bestseller and Indie Next pick. Her books have been translated into over twelve languages.
As the recipient of a James Beard Foundation culinary scholarship, Ann studied in Bologna, Italy. Ann was born in Orange County, California and after graduating from UCLA, she moved to New York City to work as a book editor. Thanks to her husband’s diplomatic career, she moves often and has called many places home, including Hanoi, Vietnam and Beijing, China. Ann currently lives in Paris and Washington, DC with her family.
