Jacqueline Bouvier

by John H. Davis

Extraordinarily intimate and touching, Jacqueline Bouvier is a tale of two childhoods. Davis's mother and Jackie's father were sister and brother, and John Davis and Jacqueline, born just weeks apart, spent their summers together on their grandfather's East Hampton estate and frequently met at family holiday gatherings. Secure in the heart of privilege, they grew up in the gilded townhouses and grand ballrooms of New York City, the equestrian circles of Long Island, and the mansion society of Newport. Jackie's mother, Janet Lee, a highstrung and strong-willed young woman, had been determined to marry into Society. She did, after meeting the dashing playboy stockbroker John "Black Jack" Bouvier, whose family could trace its American roots back more than a century. Jacqueline's Grandfather Bouvier was a gentleman of the old school who kept a household where strict rules of dress and decorum were enforced. He instilled in his grandchildren a deep sense of aristocratic lineage, a character