Jackie

A Novel

By: Dawn Tripp

Narrated by: Linda Jones, Karissa Vacker

In this mesmerizing novel about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, acclaimed author Dawn Tripp has crafted an intimate story of love and power, family and tragedy, loss and reinvention.

“A brilliant, beautiful book [that] touches the soul.”—Chris Bohjalian, New York Times bestselling author of The Princess of Las Vegas

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.

Jackie is the story of a woman—deeply private with a nuanced, formidable intellect—who forged a legacy out of grief and shaped history even as she was living it. It is the story of a love affair, a complicated marriage, and the fracturing of identity that comes in the wake of unthinkable violence.

When Jackie meets the charismatic congressman Jack Kennedy in Georgetown, she is twenty-one and dreaming of France. She has won an internship at Vogue. Kennedy, she thinks, is not her kind of adventure: “Too American. Too good-looking. Too boy.” Yet she is drawn to his mind, his humor, his drive. The chemistry between them ignites. During the White House years, the love between two independent people deepens. Then, a motorcade in Dallas: “Three and a half seconds—that’s all it was—a slivered instant between the first shot, which missed the car, and the second, which did not. . . . A hypnotic burst of sunlight off her bracelet as she waved.”

This vivid, exquisitely written novel is at once a captivating work of the imagination and a window into the world of a woman who led many lives: Jackie, Jacks, Jacqueline, Miss Bouvier, Mrs. Kennedy, Jackie O.

©2024 Dawn Tripp (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Readers will devour this richly-detailed novel about the heart and soul of the most famous woman of the twentieth century.”—Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of California Golden

“What a wondrous accomplishment Jackie is. I would say the tale feels as if Dawn Tripp took dictation straight from her subject, except that would diminish the work and skill underlying every word of this hypnotic, intelligent, deeply felt accounting of what it may have been like to be the woman who never wanted to be the myth.”—Therese Anne Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

“In her lyrical fever dream of a novel, Tripp offers a glimpse into the heart and soul of a thoughtful, brilliant woman who reluctantly stepped into the spotlight and was dogged by tragedy before ultimately coming into her own. From its gripping opening scene to the final page, I found myself entranced by Tripp’s prose and barely holding back tears. . . . Electrifying.”—Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Spectacular

Top notch author

Outstanding and it took me into Jackie’s life and perspective. One of the.Best books I’ve listened to

Just a strong woman—-

For my generation, Jackie was an icon. A pillar of strength during an unimaginable tragedy, a woman who endured a public life she didn’t want, a mother providing a family for her children. She was a woman, just as you and I are. She was an incredibly strong woman, wanting a private life, like you and I, all the long years , surrounding herself with the pleasures her life could afford, wanting to be a working woman, loving her family. Did she really only love Jack? That’s the mystery still for us, but this novel lets us “see into her feelings and leaves us believing in true love.

Good historical fiction.

Enjoyed the book. Did not care for the narrator they chose. Other than that, the story itself is good.

Beautifully real

This story is so real and raw it settles into your bones. For every Jackie Kennedy fan and historical fiction lover this is a must listen. Dawn has captured Jackie to near perfection. Going along with the narrator I would forget she was not actually Jackie speaking. I didn't want this one to end, so beautiful, thought provoking, and I'll say it again raw.

Beautifully written, beautifully delivered

This book seems to speak Jackie's truth through her voice. It is moving, haunting and exquisite. I may buy a hard copy to sift through the poetic prose slowly again. Flawless and authentic. Bravo to Dawn Tripp, and to Linda Jones and Karinda Vacker, the narrators.

beautifully written, poetic descriptions. Important historic story worth telling, worth listening, loved the pov of Jackie.

Hated for it to end. hated how Jackie was hounded at times in her life but felt this was truthfully told.

Just couldn’t get there …

Although the narrators were probably good, it was difficult for me to accept them, as the accents of Jacqueline and JFK are so familiar, yet they narrators did not try to emulate.
I am not sure why, because I usually inhale information about Jacqueline, but I could not become invested in this book. Possibly because throughout her life she remained mysterious to the general public. This made these intimate moments and internal dialogues less believable - being fully aware this is historical FICTION. I really wanted to love this book, but I just could not get there.

Very well written and beautifully read, but…

This is an extraordinary work, highly personal and obviously well researched but at a certain point I’d had enough because no matter how brilliant the text it was all made up, supposed, as if Jackie had really spoken those secret intimate thoughts only she could say or think…The reader so much wants it to be real, a revelation, marvelous new history. But it isn’t. After about half the book the story sits heavily like a second slice of rich cake you have no business eating. Brilliant but fake. Nicely read though.