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The Secret Letters: of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy |  | Author: Wendy Leigh
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Category: Book
Buy Used: $17.91
as of 3/21/2010 02:07 EDT details
New (1) Used (11) from $17.91
Seller: --textbooksrus--
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 1069808
Media: Paperback
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0312331215
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312331214
ASIN: 0312331215
Publication Date: July 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Secret Letters is a thrilling, compulsive novel with a unique premise: What if Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy---the two most iconic women of our time---had met and begun a secret correspondence?
A compelling page-turner set against the glittering backdrop of Hollywood and Washington during the 1950s and 1960s, The Secret Letters presents Marilyn and Jackie as you have never seen them before. As the story unfolds, we discover the two legends, the wife and the mistress, as friends and enemies, both in love with the same man---Jack Kennedy.
Author Wendy Leigh has created a daring concept and delivers it in fascinating detail. Each letter is rich with factual research on both women, the turbulent era in which they lived and loved, and the people who touched their lives.
A dazzling tour de force of empathy and imagination, The Secret Letters is a hypnotic read.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 16
Compelling read January 7, 2010
S. Baker (Wellington, New Zealand)
I got so caught up in this book that I forgot it was a story. It was touching and funny and sad, you could feel the pain and angst of both women and the joy and titallation they had from writing to each other. The story had facts dotted throughout and that was a fascinating part of the story. This is an interesting and insightful read of two women loving the same man.
 An Absolutely Ridiculous Page-Turner...2 1/2 Stars... April 9, 2009
Mercedes L. Johnmeyer (Kingsland, GA)
I'd never heard of this book till a friend recommend it to me...I don't think I'll be listening to anymore of her recommendations in the future. It's an interesting concept, yet I had doubts about this book before I even started it. I just couldn't get over the fact that these two would never in a million years have been friends. Now, I'm not a huge Marilyn or Jackie buff, and I only know the basics of their personal lives, but I DO know that Jackie couldn't stand Marilyn.
That aside though, as I got further into the book, I'll admit, I was interested. I kept reading because I had to know what was going to happen next, even though at the same time I was shaking my head in utter disbelief of their correspondence. I just cannot fathom Jacqueline Kennedy pushing her husband into affairs (as early as their honeymoon) just to one-up her mother, to show her she can deal with infidelity better. Nor can I fathom Marilyn Monroe writing a detailed description of how much she enjoys giving the President of the United States head...a letter she gives to his wife, the First Lady. Unbelievable.
Overall, do I recommend this book? No. If you have NOTHING else handy on you to read, then sure, go for it. But don't go out of your way to read this. I understand it's fiction, but there are just some stories that are too ridiculous to be taken seriously...even as fiction.
 Couldn't set it down until I'd read every last page February 12, 2008
Graceann Macleod (London, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I started this book as a "quickie," expecting not much more than glorified chick lit, but was I ever mistaken. Wendy Leigh has taken the lives of two extraordinary women, created the conceit of a correspondence between them, and used voluminous non-fiction resources to create one of my new favorite reads. Reading these "letters" made me want to seek out further biographies (I've read several biographies of Miss Monroe, but not many of Jacqueline Kennedy - I think I'll be finding Sarah Bradford's post-haste), and the way Wendy Leigh put the whole thing together, with Marilyn's friend having the letters and finding a publisher, and the publisher setting them out - masterful. Only one section didn't ring true (and was a bit overlong), but that's a tiny criticism. I started the book in the morning, and found myself setting aside all tasks because I didn't want to set it down until I found out what would happen next.
A Provocative Epistolary Novel Taking Readers Inside the Hearts and Mind's of Two of History's Most Famous Women January 20, 2008
Rachel Kramer Bussel (New York City)
I stumbled across Wendy Leigh's The Secret Letters of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy at a flea market, and I'm so glad I did. While some reviewers feel she does a disservice to both women by fictionalizing their story, I found this epistolary novel both refreshing and informative, and it made me want to read more, especially about Jackie.
The setup is that Marilyn and Jackie become pen pals, and pour their hearts out to each other. The details they reveal, about family, love, pride, ambition, men, and sex are ones that each, in the book's world, anyway, wouldn't share with others under most circumstances.
Marilyn's vulnerability crossed with Jackie's at times steeliness is an interesting contrast, though it seems that Leigh's central premise is that the two women are much more similar than they are different. Not just in their taste in men, but in their sense that they are set apart from the rest of society, on their own. Perhaps most telling is when Marilyn says that if she could come back as anyone in the world, she'd wish to be Caroline Kennedy. There aren't too many direct references to her intimate time with JFK, save for at the end in a slightly over-the-top detailed account of giving him blowjobs, but one can clearly sense her longing for a father figure.
Sourced with footnotes that flesh out stories told in the letters, this is an excellent novel filled with history but, most of all, emotion. There are aspects to their lives that any woman can relate to, despite their mega-fame. When Marilyn finally confesses to Jackie that she has been secretly having an affair with her husband, the precarious relationship threatens to tumble. Interwoven throughout these letters is Jack Kennedy, and while perhaps the toughest hurdle to overcome reading this is that the two could become true friends and confidantes despite that adulterous elephant in the room, they seem to understand each other regarding both his appeal, his need for comfort from women, and what he lacks.
Marilyn's frantic, sometimes drug-addled letters, show her declining state of mind, and Jackie, while mostly keeping an even keel, occasionally shows her own vulnerability, sometimes only in glimpses from the also-fictional diary Leigh weaves throughout the story. Sure, we know how the book's going to end (and the other endings that take place beyond Marilyn's death), but the competition and trust between the two women gives plenty of food for thought. Leigh, through the conceit of the letters, is able to suggest all sorts of twisted ideas - that Jackie gave Marilyn the idea to sing to JFK seductively on his birthday, knowing this would alienate him.
This book made me want to know more about each woman, and to appreciate the qualities each possessed, how each went about making something of herself. Leigh deals sensitively and compassionately with some potentially explosive topics - the suggestion that Marilyn spent a week as a call girl. Whether she did or not, Leigh does not condemn her for it, and you'd be hard pressed to read Marilyn's words and condemn her either. Reading between the lines here, in the footnotes and what was not included in the letters, is almost as much fun as reading the letters themselves. Kudos to Leigh for giving her own twist to history, while not going all the way out into thin air. After reading this book, I plan to investigate more into the lives of each woman; Leigh's triumph is in bringing them to life in a way that perhaps even the most nuanced biographer cannot, simply by the nature of the genre.
Ludicrous but Entertaining! April 15, 2007
E. Butler (Tampa, Florida USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have never felt compelled to write a review for Amazon, but after reading this book, I felt I had to. I am by no means a Marilyn or Jackie fanatic, but I have read a few non-fiction books on them both. From the little knowledge I have on their personalities, I find it ridiculous that either of them would react or respond in the way portrayed by Ms. Leigh.
I realize that this is historical fiction, however, if you do decide to buy this book, remember that it is much more fiction than history. I find it amusing that the author tends to throw in historical events like Einstein passing, or the 50's quiz show scandal to somehow make the book seem authentic.
Also, from what little I know about Jackie, she was certainly aware of Jack's affair with Marilyn almost from the beginning. Jackie hated Marilyn and found her an annoyance. I hardly think she would have been so cordial to her husband's mistress.
However, as ludicrous as this book is, I have to admit it is a page turner and very entertaining. If you need an easy, somewhat dumbed down book to escape from reality for a while - this is the book for you!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 16
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