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    The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee
    The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee
    The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee

    Written by Sam Kashner

    Narrated by Bernadette Dunne

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    About this audiobook

    A poignant, evocative, and wonderfully gossipy account of the two sisters who represented style and class above all else—Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill—from the authors of Furious Love.

    When sixty-four-year-old Jackie Kennedy Onassis died in her Fifth Avenue apartment, her younger sister Lee wept inconsolably. Then Jackie’s thirty-eight-page will was read. Lee discovered that substantial cash bequests were left to family members, friends, and employees—but nothing to her. ""I have made no provision in this my Will for my sister, Lee B. Radziwill, for whom I have great affection, because I have already done so during my lifetime,"" read Jackie’s final testament. Drawing on the authors’ candid interviews with Lee Radziwill, The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters explores their complicated relationship, placing them at the center of twentieth-century fashion, design, and style.

    In life, Jackie and Lee were alike in so many ways. Both women had a keen eye for beauty—in fashion, design, painting, music, dance, sculpture, poetry—and both were talented artists. Both loved pre-revolutionary Russian culture, and the blinding sunlight, calm seas, and ancient olive groves of Greece. Both loved the siren call of the Atlantic, sharing sweet, early memories of swimming with the rakish father they adored, Jack Vernou Bouvier, at his East Hampton retreat. But Jackie was her father’s favorite, and Lee, her mother’s. One would grow to become the most iconic woman of her time, while the other lived in her shadow. As they grew up, the two sisters developed an extremely close relationship threaded with rivalry, jealousy, and competition. Yet it was probably the most important relationship of their lives.

    For the first time, Vanity Fair contributing editor Sam Kashner and acclaimed biographer Nancy Schoenberger tell the complete story of these larger-than-life sisters. Drawing on new information and extensive interviews with Lee, now eighty-four, this dual biography sheds light on the public and private lives of two extraordinary women who lived through immense tragedy in enormous glamour.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateSep 25, 2018
    ISBN9780062864857
    Author

    Sam Kashner

    Sam Kashner is the author of four nonfiction books, including the memoir When I Was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School, and one novel, Sinatraland. He has written extensively for Vanity Fair as a contributing editor.  Nancy Schoenberger is the author of Dangerous Muse: the Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood; Wayne and Ford: the Films, The Friendship, and the Forging of an American Hero; and three prize-winning books of poetry.  She teaches at The College of William and Mary where she directs the Creative Writing Program.  

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    Reviews for The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters

    4/5

    58 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Enchanting story of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwell.Some interesting items in here including her two-pack a day cigarette habit, Onassis's enormous wealth - and the negotiations that went on around pre-nuptial agreements and a divorce settlement.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Hmm. I didn't think this book on Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her sister Lee Radziwill would tell me anything new, especially about Jackie, but I wasn't expecting quite so many quotes from other sources. The overall tone is gossipy and repetitive - and occasionally factually incorrect (Jack visited his sister's grave in Ireland? He must have had a good pair of binoculars!) - but I did learn more about Lee, at least. Good for an introduction, but a book dedicated solely to Lee's life would probably have been more to the point.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Digital Audio narrated by Bernadette Dunne.The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: The Tragic and Glamorous lives of Jackie and LeeThe book jacket notes that when Jackie Kennedy Onassis died she left numerous bequests to friends and family, but nothing to her sister. Jackie’s will stated: I have made no provision in this my Will for my sister, lee B Radziwill, for whom I have great affection, because I have already done so during my lifetime.” Ouch.Based on interviews with Lee Radziwill and various friends of both Lee and Jackie, the authors have crafted a mini biography and exploration of their complicated and tight relationship, from children of divorced parents, to women married to powerful and/or wealthy men. Like any siblings there were disagreements, rivalries, jealousy, fierce loyalty, affection, and competition. Living so much of their adult lives in the spotlight certainly contributed to some of these feelings. All told I found it fascinating and full of the kind of gossip that enthralls me. It’s an interesting look at the dynamic between these two sisters and their claims to fame.Bernadette Dunne did a marvelous job of reading the audio version. She set a good pace, and her narration held my attention.