Kick Kennedy reveals her story, that of a young girl learning about love, sex, and death-and doing it all at warp speed as the world races toward war and then reels in the war's chaotic aftermath. It was a time of complete upheaval, as reflected in the life of this most unlikely and unforgettable central character. But it was also a world of blood and war, and of immeasurable loss.

It was a world of dukes and duchesses, of grand houses, of country house weekends, and of wild rich boys. Willing to pay the price for choosing the love she wanted, she would have to face the consequences of forsaking much that was dear to her.īestselling and award-winning biographer Barbara Leaming draws on her unique access to firsthand accounts, extensive conversations with many of the key players, and previously-unseen sources to transport us to another world, one of immense wealth, arcane rituals and rules, glamour and tragedy, that has now disappeared forever. For this is also a story of how a girl like Kick, a girl who had everything, a girl who seemed made for happiness, confronted crushing sadness. To Kick, everything about this life was fun and amusing-until suddenly it was not. Kick was the girl whom all the boys fell in love with, the girl who remained painfully out of reach for most of them. In a decaying world where everything was based on stultifying sameness and similarity, she was gloriously, exhilaratingly different. The daughter of the American ambassador to the Court of St James's, Kick swept into Britain's aristocracy like a fresh wind on a sweltering summer day. Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy was the incandescent life-force of the fabled Kennedy family, her father's acknowledged 'favorite of all the children' and her brother Jack's 'psychological twin.' She was the Kennedy of Kennedys, sure of her privilege, magnetically charming and somehow not quite like anyone else on whatever stage she happened to grace.

Kick kennedy by barbara leaming