Jaqueline in Paris by Ann Mah ~ Book Review

After WWII, Jacqueline Bouvier sets off to spend her Junior year in Paris along with a group of girls from Vassar College.   After a failed engagement her mother wants her to stay behind and find a suitable, prestigious and wealthy match for herself.  But in spite of her mother's pressures Jacqueline leaves for her year abroad.  What she finds is both exhilarating and confusing.  On the one hand is the parties, the cafes, the learning of the French language, the theatres and her studies of the arts and literature.  On the other hand is a France still trying to rebuild from the war, with homes with no heat, people still very much traumatized by the war and an undercurrent of suspicion of a Communist movement trying to gain a foothold.  The family she is living with embraces her and the other girls into their home but there are secrets being held amongst the family members.  Who in Jacqueline's circles can be trusted and who plays their part well?  As a naive Jacqueline tries to navigate this new world, she will cultivate a deep love for France, it's culture, the arts and it's people and will learn lessons that will carry her into her future as the 1st Lady of America.  

This historical fiction is based on the real lives of Jacqueline Bouvier, John Marquard Jr., the de Rentry family and others in post war France.  The author describes a Jacqueline that is ready to experience every part of her year there including side trips into Vienna and Germany.  Before her fame as the first lady, was a young woman with hopes and dreams of her own, hoping to find her own love rather than the stilted marriage of prestige that her mother's society in New York was expecting for her.  Paris helped change, mature and prepare her for her future.  The descriptions were detailed of both sides of the Paris Jacqueline found and the story was captivating with intrigue thrown in through the spies and Communism.  Though if one is expecting a fast paced, action packed tale this is not that.  It is slower paced with following the main character's steps through the society and with the characters she met along the way which shaped who she became.  I enjoyed the story for the most part, knowing some of it was probably very fictionalized.  

I rated it an 8.5/10