There’s something celestial about the Kennedy family. They are America’s royalty, a clan of seductive, beautiful people whose impeccably styled technicolour daily lives are shrouded in myth, rumour and simultaneous deification and condemnation. The most tumultuous moments in the family’s life changed the course of history, while the seeming bad luck – which began 105 years before John F. Kennedy’s assassination when his great-grandfather was felled by cholera, age 35, and continues to this day with his grand-niece and her eight-year-old son tragically losing their lives in a canoeing accident only three months ago – has been mythologised into a curse.
It’s no wonder then that thriller writer James Patterson, one of the best-selling authors of all time, decided to examine the rise and fall of the dynasty in his new book, The Kennedy Curse. Patterson mostly writes fiction and has transferred those skills to this non-fiction pageturner which boasts the pace and lustre of a gripping epic. “I have written it with a novelist’s tone: it’s just story after story after story, there’s drama to it,” he opines.
Before reading the book, I thought there was nothing more to be said about the Kennedys – no stone unturned, no conspiracy theory untapped – but the intimate detail Patterson reveals revives the family for a new generation to pore over. “It’s just an unbelievable tale. I thought that nobody had told the whole family’s story,” he explains.
This story is from the July 2020 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2020 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Where to go in 2024
Who doesn't love fantasising about their next trip? We've gone for lesser-known locations, and whether you're seeking bright lights, striking natural scenery, serenity or excitement, here's where you're sure to find it.
Money matters with Effie
Didn’t reach your financial goals in 2023? While a new year won’t wipe away pressures like rising costs, there are a few things you can do now to refresh your money mojo in 2024.
Bright stars in a rugged land
The hot, dusty opal fields around Lightning Ridge in outback NSW have traditionally been a man's world. Now The Weekly meets the women who have been struck by opal fever.
The gift of life
Maureen Elliott had just months to live when she went on St Vincent's Hospital's transplant list. Thirty years on she's one of the longest living heart-lung transplant recipients in the world.
An uncaged heart
After more than two years in Iranian jails, Kylie Moore-Gilbert has forged a new life that's brimming with love, and a determination to help others who have been wrongfully imprisoned.
The woman behind The King
As Sofia Coppola's biopic Priscilla readies to hit screens, we look back at the early life and great love of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley.
Say hello to the Cockatoo cake
When we put a call-out to our readers for their best children's cakes we were inundated with recipes, and this clever cockatoo was ahead of the flock.
The French revolution
Dawn French quit her sketch show because she felt so ugly. Now the \"roly-poly comedian\" wants us all to stop fretting about our faults. She talks body image, surviving the 1980s and owning her mistakes.
Trump's women
Will it be the jailhouse or the White House for Donald Trump this year? The women in his life could make all the difference.
Can you buy a good night's sleep?
Forty per cent of Australians have trouble sleeping, and the market has responded with a mind-boggling array of sleep aids. But do any of them actually work? The Weekly goes in search of slumber.
