Stevie‘s review of The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher
Biographical Historical Fiction published by Berkley 02 Oct 18
I’ve had a sneaking fascination with Kick Kennedy for a good while, mainly because of the Chatsworth connection than any particular interest in her birth family; however, while I’ve placed daisy chains on her grave in Edensor churchyard, I’ve not read any of the full-length biographies about her up until now. This latest addition to the few already out there is a novelisation of Kick’s life, rather than the more factual or academic studies waiting on various bookshelves for me to pick up, so I was hoping it would ease me into the topic ahead of more weighty tomes (in tone, if not in actual size).
Our story opens in 1938 with Kick already living in London and about to be presented at Court ahead of her first Season. She’s been well prepared for the big day and is much more composed about the occasion than her sister Rosemary, who has always been the odd one out of this poised, ambitious family. At Court, Kick performs perfectly, although she has to cover for Rosemary, who nearly takes a tumble in front of the King and Queen. Embarrassed for her sister, and worried what her mother will say about the slip-up, Kick nonetheless escapes her family to visit a nightclub with her new upper echelon British friends.
At the club, Kick meets Billy Hartington, son of the Duke of Devonshire, whom she has admired from afar since a previous brief visit to Cambridge two years earlier. Billy, too, is enamoured of Kick, but both are aware how much their families will disapprove of any romance between an American Catholic of Irish descent and a Protestant from one of England’s oldest aristocratic families. Nevertheless, the pair strike up a friendship, which slowly turns into a long drawn-out, on-off courtship, often interrupted by family commitments and overseas trips, until war breaks out and they are forced to decide how to override everyone’s objections and commit to each other instead.
Billy and Kick’s happiness is to be shattered again very soon, but they do at least get a taste of married life together and Kick has a glimpse of what life could be like, were she to one day become the Duchess of Devonshire. Throughout the story we catch glimpses of members of their set with whom I am far more familiar, through the writings of Debo and Andrew Devonshire, and in one case through a very brief conversation over a farm gate.
I loved that no part of Kick’s life, or that of her friends and siblings, was glossed over; not everything she does is popular with those around her, be they British or American, and not all her family’s choices work out in the way they might have been intended. I would have liked to see a little more of what Kick did after the War, although that is at least discussed in an author’s note at the end. That’s my interest in another of the great local families showing through, though, and might not have been in keeping with the tone of the book – or indeed what most readers would have wanted.
All in all, a most excellent debut, and I shall be expecting greatness from the author in the future.
Grade: B
Summary:
A captivating novel following the exploits of Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, the forgotten and rebellious daughter of one of America’s greatest political dynasties.
London, 1938. The effervescent “It girl” of London society since her father was named the ambassador, Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy moves in rarified circles, rubbing satin-covered elbows with some of the 20th century’s most powerful figures. Eager to escape the watchful eye of her strict mother, Rose, the antics of her older brothers, Jack and Joe, and the erratic behavior of her sister Rosemary, Kick is ready to strike out on her own and is soon swept off her feet by Billy Hartington, the future Duke of Devonshire.
But their love is forbidden, as Kick’s devout Catholic family and Billy’s staunchly Protestant one would never approve their match. When war breaks like a tidal wave across her world, Billy is ripped from her arms as the Kennedys are forced to return to the States. Kick gets work as a journalist and joins the Red Cross to get back to England, where she will have to decide where her true loyalties lie–with family or with love…
Read an excerpt.
