The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family is engaging.

"The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family"  by Amber Hunt and David Batcher is really quite engaging. My first thought was "another Kennedy/Kennedy women book". This one, however, is an easy read, full of behind the public stage scene and manages to make all of the women someone to whom we can relate. The book made me laugh and made me cry. It reminded me of stories I had heard before, and related many new stories.

The women, and the men with whom they are directly involved, each have their own chapter or chapters with the matriarch Rose getting a real in-depth presentation. She is fascinating in her own right, even before becoming the bride of Joe Kennedy, Sr. Born in the middle of the relentless and deadly hot summer of 1890, Rose was in peril of dying. Instead she lived until 1995. Her life alone is worthy of a scholarly work.

The other women are, in my opinion, fairly treated, but this is not a fawning tribute to any of them. The least personable seemed to be Jackie, but then, perhaps her role in life kept her at a distance. Edward's wife at the time of his death is an interesting woman. One wonders how things might have been different had she come along earlier.

This is a well written, enjoyable book. If you have an enthusiastic Kennedy reader in your circle, they will probably want to read this. Othes can read and learn from it.

This is a new book, published December 2, 2014. Available at multiple outlets. I won my copy on goodreads.