In this book, Laurie Graham does for the Kennedys what Philippa Gregory did for the Boleyns. She takes a real family and an actual timeline and puts a fictional spin on it, drawing the reader into a make-believe world that, for all we know, could be just the way it really was. Mr not.
In this case, it is not a strumpet in the court of Henry VIII whose eyes we are seeing the world through; it is Nora Brennan, an Irish country girl who lands herself a job as nurserymaid to one Joseph Kennedy Junior in 1917. Little does Nora know when she picks him up to cuddle him that there will be eight more little Kennedys to follow and that the boys are all headed, if their daddy has his way, for the White House.
Nora sees everything that goes on in the Kennedy household and recounts it with a wry wit, often putting her own happiness aside in her devotion to the children. The parents, she’s not so keen on. She clearly does not have a lot of time for Herself, as she refers to Rose Kennedy, whose appetite for shopping and health cures far outweighs her maternal instinct. Nora’s not altogether fussed on Joe Senior either, what with his fancy women and his insistence that money can buy everything and everyone.
In fact, on her website, Laurie Graham says her research into the Kennedy family showed that there really was a Kennedy curse it was called Rose and Joe. Well, we all know what happened to JFK and Bobby and to naughty baby brother Teddy, but The Importance of Being Kennedy focuses more on Kick and Rose, two Kennedy daughters who refused to buckle and who both paid, in one way or another, with their lives.
If you’re a fan of Laurie Graham’s other books. The Future Homemakers of America and The Unfortunates, you will love this, and if you haven’t read her before but like historical fiction, you will also love it. In fact, I cannot think of a reader who would not enjoy this book. Except, perhaps, a Kennedy.
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