And They Called It Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton

And They Called It Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton is “an intimate portrait of the life of Jackie O”. And, intimate it is.

We follow the life of Jacqueline Bouvier from her late teenage years until shortly after the death of her second husband, Aristotle Onassis. Through it all, the author has imagined the most intimate thoughts and actions of the late Jackie Kennedy Onassis – the public and the private.

As one old enough to remember the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, watching the news footage on our black and white television with my parents is a vivid memory. The photographs published in the many magazine articles have become an iconic part of the history of my generation. I also remember the news of the marriage of Jackie Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis in 1968, but only as passing news accompanied by film footage and photographs of the glamorous life aboard the Onassis yacht Christina O. And, just in case you have an extra $90,000.00 lying around, you could rent this luxurious yacht for a day! 

But, as much as I already knew about the life of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, there was far more that I had no knowledge of until reading this novel. Jackie came from comparative wealth, but nothing like the Kennedy family. Led by Joe Kennedy, with the support of his wife, Rose, the family had plans for the eldest son to become President of the United States. When Joe Kennedy Jr. was killed in action during the Second World War, it was John who was then groomed for the role of President. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was known to be more than a bit of a playboy, and that, added to his good looks, made him just as attractive to Jackie as it did to every other woman in his orbit.

They married in 1953 and Jack pursed his political career – and many other women. It was not until he became the leading Democratic candidate for President in 1958 that his father laid down the law and demanded that he behave as a faithful husband and father as was expected Presidential behavior. Of course, as we know, he was elected President, serving from January 1961 until November 1963, when he was assassinated, and the world fell apart for Jackie and his children, Caroline and John.

We read about all of this, the public face of this family – and the very, very private life. It may or may not be true that after the death of her husband, Jackie and Bobby Kennedy became lovers. They certainly spent a great deal of time together and, as Ethel had baby after baby, Jackie accompanied Bobby as he also sought the path to the Presidency. And, then another assassination, this time Bobby is killed, in 1968. No wonder this family is considered to be cursed. 

Jackie had been courted by Aristotle Onassis for some time and now marriage to this powerful and ultra-wealthy man seemed to be the only way that Jackie and her children could escape the American media attention – and the threat they felt to their safety in the United States. Onassis, with his private island provided a haven, far from the media attention and the memories of life in the White House.

I will admit that there were many times when I rolled my eyes at the over-wrought drama of this novel – but I kept reading because it was so very interesting. And, again, I thought that for a younger reader it would be a fascinating introduction to the living history of the time, as we read about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis – a time when my generation practiced cowering under our desks in preparation for the nuclear bomb that we expected to fall.

And They Called It Camelot is by no means a literary novel, but it is a book worth a read and one that vividly portrays a not so distant past. An excellent escape from these trying times!