Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah

Synopsis
In September 1949 Jacqueline Bouvier arrives in postwar Paris to begin her junior year abroad. She’s twenty years old, socially poised but financially precarious, and all too aware of her mother’s expectations that she make a brilliant match. Before relenting to family pressure, she has one year to herself far away from sleepy Vassar College and the rigid social circles of New York, a year to explore and absorb the luminous beauty of the City of Light. Jacqueline is immediately catapulted into an intoxicating new world of champagne and châteaux, art and avant-garde theater, cafés and jazz clubs. She strikes up a romance with a talented young writer who shares her love of literature and passion for culture – even though her mother would think him most unsuitable.

But beneath the glitter and rush, France is a fragile place still haunted by the Occupation. Jacqueline lives in a rambling apartment with a widowed countess and her daughters, all of whom suffered as part of the French Resistance just a few years before. In the aftermath of World War II, Paris has become a nest of spies, and suspicion, deception, and betrayal lurk around every corner. Jacqueline is stunned to watch the rise of communism – anathema in America, but an active movement in France – never guessing she is witnessing the beginning of the political environment that will shape the rest of her life—and that of her future husband.

My Review
Whenever I think of Jacqueline Bouvier I think of glamour, influence and the icon she became due to her marriage to John F Kennedy and then Aristotle Onassis. In Jacqueline in Paris Ann Man takes inspiration from Jackie’s year in Paris when she was eighteen years old, a period that stayed with her and inspired a visit when she was married to JFK.

I really enjoyed learning more about the young Jackie, and how she grew over that year. Paris 1949 was a city still recovering from the Second World War, there were still factions of communism, a fear of Russia now rather than Germany, and families were still dealing with the horrors they faced only a few years before. Into this comes a young and naive Jackie, who has been bought up with the aim of making a good marriage. I found it fascinating to see Paris from Jackie’s point of view, as she spreads her wings and sees that there is more to life than what her mother expects. She mixes in Salons where politics and literature are discussed, and enters into a relationship with a man her mother wouldn’t have agreed with. She was an independant young woman, and I thought her visit to Munich and Dachau such a brave thing to do so soon after the War.

Ann Mah’s historical research is wonderful, both in terms of bringing the young Jackie to life but aslo capturing the atmosphere of Paris at that time. There is a lot of focus on how the war effected women, told through the characters of the Comptesse de Renty and her daughter Ghislaine. Both worked for the Resistance, and the Comptesse found herself in Ravensbürg concentration camp suffering horrors we can but imagine. The detailed prose brings Paris to life, from the run down appartment she stays in to the colours and smells of the Christmas Markets, to the beautiful Salons and grand houses that influenced Jackie’s redecoration of the White House years later, and how Paris changes over the seasons.

Jaqueline in Paris was an absolute joy to read. I felt that even though it is fiction I learned a lot about the young Jacqueline Bouvier and Paris after the war. Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres and Ann Mah has written such a wonderful and detailed book that captures the atmosphere and zeitgeist of Paris in 1949-1950 and written some fascinating characters, both fictional and real. This is an immersive and immpressive read, and one I highly recommend.

I would like to thank Anne Cater for giving me the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for this book in return for my honest review.