The Summer I Met Jack

March 15, 2018

Alicia Darr (born Barbara Kopczynska) is a Polish refugee who immigrates to the United States in 1950; she lands a summer job in the Kennedy household in Hyannisport, MA, and an introduction to the family's up-and-coming politician Jack. A relationship quickly blossoms while Alicia maintains her perpetual chameleon-like identity. When her past catches up with her, she leaves the East Coast for a fresh start in Hollywood, where an A-list circle of acquaintances grows to include Gary Cooper, Katharine Hepburn, and Marilyn Monroe. Alicia's journey continues through multiple love affairs (she marries into the Corning-Clark family and becomes quite wealthy), career attempts (writer, actress), and family reckonings that dovetail nicely with the ascent of the Kennedy dynasty in America. Gable (A Paris Apartment; I'll See You in Paris) seamlessly weaves this modern love story with history, ensuring romantic tension that doesn't end with the acceleration of Jack's career. VERDICT Based on real events, this compassionate and intelligent blend of Adriana Trigiani's All the Stars in the Heavens and Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.'s Empty Mansions offers massive cross-genre appeal. [See Prepub Alert, 11/28/17.]--Tina Panik, Avon Free P.L., CT

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2018
A Polish-Jewish immigrant has a romantic affair with John F. Kennedy in this vivid historical novel.Barbara Kopczysnka leaves Poland in the late 1940s and arrives fresh-faced and ambitious in Oklahoma. She changes her name to Alicia Darr and moves in with other displaced young women. When Irenka, one of her roommates, relocates to the East Coast, Alicia follows her to Hyannisport and secures a position as a maid to the boisterous Kennedy family. Each Kennedy seems quirkier than the next--from the stern and exacting Rose to her philandering and controlling husband, Joe. Yet none of the Kennedys is as magnetic or enchanting as the handsome, larger-than-life Jack. Alicia is immediately smitten, and to her great delight, her affections are returned. After a whirlwind courtship, the young Congressman proposes to Alicia. Unfortunately, Alicia's old friend Irenka sells her out, alerting Joe that his son has proposed to a Jew. Concerned about the consequences of Alicia's religious background on Jack's political career, Joe forbids the marriage. Although Jack seems prepared to defy his father, Alicia understands that without Joe's blessing, the couple will never enjoy a truly successful marriage, so she ends the affair. The book then tracks Jack's astronomical political ascent as well as the new life Alicia builds for herself in Hollywood. As the years pass, Jack simply cannot forget Alicia, and he continues to pursue her well into his married days. As the Kennedy family becomes increasingly powerful, Alicia's position as Jack's true love seems to put her in great danger. Based on true events from the life of American socialite Alicia Corning Clark, the story offers an alternate Kennedy family history that will leave readers wondering whether America knew the real JFK at all.A riveting tale about America's most romanticized family.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 26, 2018
Gable (The Book of Summer) brings Polish émigré and artist Alicia Darr to vivid life in this sparkling novel, most famously her intense romance with then-congressman John F. “Jack” Kennedy in the early ’50s. After time in a German Displaced Persons camp, Alicia takes a job as a housekeeper for the bustling, chaotic Kennedy family at their Hyannis Port, Mass., compound in 1950. Sparks fly instantly when she meets Jack. They plan to marry until Jack’s father discovers that Alicia is Jewish. Brokenhearted, Alicia moves to Hollywood and soon befriends celebrities like Katherine Hepburn and Gary Cooper, eventually marrying actor Edmund Purdom and later the heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, Alfred Corning Clark, only 13 days before his death. Gable also explores Alicia’s time
in Rome with eccentric artist Novella Palmisano, which leads to a few surprises in the third act. Brief interludes throughout detail the search for an heir to Alicia’s fortune after her death in 2016. Gale elegantly captures the glitter, glamour, and gossip of 1950s Hollywood without resorting to melodrama, and, while JFK is a perennially fascinating figure, this is Alicia’s story: a splendid portrait of a spirited survivor thriving in a man’s world, even as memories of Jack, her only true love, linger. This bittersweet tale will enthrall readers. 100,000-copy announced first printing.

April 1, 2018
Gable (The Book of Summer, 2017) offers an unvarnished, fictional view of a maid's affair with a young Jack Kennedy and its repercussions throughout her life, and possibly for U.S. history. In 1950, Alicia Darr is a Polish displaced person working at a movie theater in Hyannis when she is taken on as a temporary maid at the crowded and chaotic Kennedy summer house. She is just 21 years old and has already reinvented herself more than once since living in prewar affluence. Her beauty catches the eye of Jack, then a young congressman, and they are soon involved in a passionate affair. Alicia is an excellent match for Jack intellectually, sexually, and socially, until a secret from her past causes him to call off their engagement. Alicia leaves Hyannis for Hollywood and begins to make her own way, maintaining intermittent contact with Jack until he becomes president. Gable brings her her flair for multigenerational stories rooted in New England summers to this inspired-by-a-true-story tale that will appeal to Kennedy watchers, seasonal romantics, and fans of old Hollywood.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)