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

Summary (from the publisher): 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.

Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.

This biography hones in on the relationship between Jackie Bouvier Kennedy and her lesser known sister Lee Bouvier. Raised to expect men to bankroll their expensive lifestyle, both women were known for their cultured and European sense of style in both fashion and design, their grace and beauty, and their captivating personalities. Yet Lee, who according to this biography had the more outgoing, star-seeking personality, was forever overshadowed by her older sister. This imbalanced dynamic led to years of jealousy and competition between the sisters who otherwise had a close relationship.

The overarching dynamic between Lee and her famous sister seems to have been tension over Jackie's international fame, which forever and overwhelmingly overshadowed her little sister. Lee "never wanted to be the footnote in Jackie's story" and yet that seems to be the way both her own lifetime and her legacy has been defined. Yet this book asserts that many of the elements of her life that Jackie is known for her were copied from her younger sister: "Jackie often took her aesthetic interests and style, in décor and in couture, from her younger sister, and earned international acclaim for her discernment, while Lee increasingly resented it" (46).

This appears to be a very well written, if not comprehensive biography. In telling the story of the sisters, the book must inevitably tell their life stories. Yet this is not done in great detail in some areas. For example, the book does not discuss the birth of Caroline Kennedy at all, other than indirectly when talking about the birth of Lee's first child Anthony: "By marrying first and having a child before Jackie, she had indeed trumped her older sister" (65). This is actually inaccurate, since Caroline Kennedy was born in 1957 and Anthony Radziwill was born in 1959. Perhaps the authors actually intended to say that Lee had the first son (and I'm sure the final version will correct this error). Other topics are skimmed over as well. For instance, the girls' mother plays an exceedingly small role in this biography and is not mentioned for chapters on end. On the other hand, it was a distinct advantage that the authors were able to meet with the still living Lee and get some first hand account from her and the biography appears to be very well researched.

Both Jackie and Lee were captivating, complicated individuals who lived fascinating, and at times tragic, lives with the rich and famous of the day. Kashner and Schoenberger have done an excellent job of writing an accessible and relatively compact biography that specifically hones in on the dynamic between the two sisters. Although at times I wish more details had been included about other major characters in their lives including their parents and children, I thoroughly enjoyed this biography.

Stars: 4

Related Titles:

• Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis by Alice Kaplan
• The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family by Laurence Leamer