Jacqueline in Paris: A Novel

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Captivating...Mah channels Kennedy and brings postwar Paris to life with exquisite detail and insight. -- People

From the bestselling author ofThe Lost Vintage, a rare and dazzling portrait of Jacqueline Bouviers college year abroad in postwar Paris, an intimate and electrifying story of love and betrayal, and the coming-of-age of an American icon before the world knew her as Jackie.

In September 1949 Jacqueline Bouvier arrives in postwar Paris to begin her junior year abroad. Shes twenty years old, socially poised but financially precarious, and all too aware of her mothers 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 chteaux, art and avant-garde theater, cafs 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 lifeand that of her future husband.

Evocative, sensitive, and rich in historic detail, Jacqueline in Paris portrays the origin story of an American icon. Ann Mah brilliantly imagines the intellectual and aesthetic awakening of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, and illuminates how France would prove to be her one true love, and one of the greatest influences on her life.

Author Bio

Ann Mah was born in Orange County, California, and lived in Beijing for four years, where she was the dining editor for a monthly English-language magazine. She writes regularly for the South China Morning Post, Cond Nast Traveler, the International Herald Tribune, and on her blog, www.annmah.net. Ann was awarded a James Beard Culinary Scholarship in 2005 and now lives in Paris.