From the #1 bestselling author of The Secret Wife comes a story of love, passion, and tragedy as the lives of Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas are intertwined—and they become the ultimate rivals, in love with the same man.The President’s Wife; a Glamorous Superstar; the rivalry that shook the world… Jackie Kennedy was beautiful, sophisticated, and contemplating leaving her ambitious young … sophisticated, and contemplating leaving her ambitious young senator husband. Life in the public eye with an overly ambitious–and unfaithful—man who could hardly be coaxed to return from a vacation after the birth of a stillborn child was breaking her spirit. So when she’s offered a holiday on the luxurious yacht owned by billionaire Ari Onassis, she says yes…to a meeting that will ultimately change her life.
Maria Callas is at the height of her operatic career and widely considered to be the finest soprano in the world. And then she’s introduced to Aristotle Onassis, the world’s richest man and her fellow Greek. Stuck in a childless, sexless marriage, and with pressures on all sides from opera house managers and a hostile press, she finds her life being turned upside down by this hyper-intelligent and impeccably charming man…
Little by little, Maria’s and Jackie’s lives begin to overlap, and they come closer and closer until everything they know about the world changes on a dime.
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A look inside the lives of celebrities.
Loved this book great story of Jackie, Maria and Ari. Loved the way this author incorporated each woman’s story and tied them together. Loved this historical fiction story.
I received an ARC from Netgalley and this review is my opinion.
Historical fiction, if done correctly, blurs the line between what happened and what is imagined. This book is done right. First book I’ve read by this author, but I do own others. This book hooked me from Page 1.
I remember watching JFK’s funeral on TV. I was in first grade, so Caroline Kennedy was my age. I can remember asking questions of my parents regarding the shooting and the funeral. As I grew, I was always fascinated with the Kennedy’s. I remember the ‘horror’ of Jackie marrying Onassis. I vaguely remember the backstory of world-famous soprano Maria Callas.
This was a great story of how some things might have happened. Told from Jackie and Maria’s point of view, alternating chapters. Both woman, who seemed so strong and stoic, had so much in common. Both fell in love with strong, powerful men. Men as different in upbringing but the same in temperament. Both women only wanted to be loved, but were treated poorly in that respect. Children, family, faith…important to both. Their lives intersect when Aristotle decides he needs another notch in his belt by adding Jacki.
Politics, jet setting, gossip, heartache, disappointment, living in the public eye, ruthlessness, excessiveness, deceit and so much more is focused on in this book. Just a great escape…Milan, Paris, Greece, New York, Massachusetts. Perfect reading vacation and all the components of a great read!
Thanks to Ms. Paul, Harpers Collins Publishers and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.
Jackie Kennedy was an admirer of Maria Callas’ performances on the operatic stages of the world. Their lives became intertwined when they both became enamored of Aristotle Onassis.
This is an easy, fast read. It is good to remember that the author has written a historical novel as you’re reading through the book and that she has, by necessity, put words into the mouths of her iconic characters. She does not mention anything about her research like what documents she used, where found her information, etc.
My thanks to Morrow and Edelweiss for an eARC.
The whole world knows Jackie Kennedy and that was my main reason to read this book, I wanted to know how her life would intertwine with this Maria Callas and man was it amazing how Gill Paul did this book and made a masterpiece. I loved reading how these two women’s life, so different and so far away from each other but at the same time so close together with each other.
We get to follow Jackie’s story line from when she met JFK and how they started dating and we even get some stories of her past boyfriends from before JFK. From when she decided Jack was her love, we see how her life changed, for better or for worse? Well, you be the judge, at least from this book. However, from this book’s point of view, Jackie is the wife that follow’s Jack even if she hates politics, but she stays by his side and “supports” him. She becomes the first lady that America loved, or hated at the beginning because of her expensive clothes (sounds kind of familiar). She becomes legendary when JFK dies and even afterwards. But years after she gets married to a very rich man, Aristotle Onassis.
Maria Callas, opera singer, a legend on her time. Can you see her and Jackie’s lives intertwined? No, right? Well, we are wrong, so wrong. But back to Maria. Maria started her career very, very young, but her voice was magic and she stole the hearts of millions with it. But one thing that didn’t go right for Maria? The hearts of the people that loved her. Starting with her family, her mother never loved her, and took advantaged of her even when she was a little girl, Then, she got married really, really young to someone who was much, much older than her. She thought she had found the love of her life, her husband did everything for her, he was her manager, managed all her business. Why couldn’t she trust him, she rescued her from her family so she trusted him, the only thing she was missing was a child. And, as the years went by, the older she got and the older the husband got and the less he touched her and no kids for them, it was like he lost interest in her. And then she met Aristotle Onassis. He woke something in her that she didn’t even realize she was missing, and she was so happy when she was near him and with him. And she left her husband and him his wife so they could be together. With Aristotle in her life, she finds that her life is turned upside down with this man, but being this happy she will do anything to continue to be this way. Until Aristotle does the unthinkable.
And these two women’s world collide with each other and they will never be the same.
Man, there was so much going one at all times, so much family drama, so much romance drama…it was epic and even at the end you wanted more because you knew there had to be more, right?
Beautifully done.
Two iconic women. One famous/infamous man. Gill Paul skillfully pulls back the curtain, delivering a new and revealing glimpse into the well-known convergent lives of Jackie Kenedy Onassis, Maria Callas, and Aristotle Onassis. With well-crafted prose, these lives are laid bare, and the reader is swept away into their turbulent, gripping world. A fantastic read!
5 stars is simply not enough !! ( I read and reviewed this book under the title The Second Marriage)
Gill Paul has written another masterful captivating book based on history and put into a story I could not put down.
Historical fiction at its best.
Jacqueline Kennedy and Maria Callas, both having equal time in the story and both having a life story that pulls the reader in.
You feel like you are sitting there having a cocktail with these ladies( not together mind you). You laugh with them, you cry with them .
I wont give any more away but suffice to say put this book no matter the title to the top of your TBR pile.
Thanks to NetGalley, Avon Books UK, Avon for allowing me to get to lost in this fascinating story of 2 fascinating ladies.