Join authors Emily Franklin and Dawn Tripp who will appear at Ink Fish Books on Wednesday, June 18 at 6pm for an author discussion and book signing. Tickets are $5 and include light refreshments, an author meet and greet, authors in conversation, and a book signing. Books will be for sale at the event, in store, or online.
Space is limited. PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
About the BookS
THE LIONESS OF BOSTON is a deeply evocative novel of the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner, a daring visionary who created an inimitable legacy in American art and transformed the city of Boston itself.
By the time Isabella Stewart Gardner opened her Italian palazzo-style home as a museum in 1903 to showcase her collection of old masters, antiques, and objects d’art, she was already well-known for scandalizing Boston’s polite society. But when Isabella first arrived in Boston in 1861, she was twenty years old, newly married to a wealthy trader, and unsure of herself. Puzzled by the frosty reception she received from stuffy bluebloods, she strived to fit in. After two devastating tragedies and rejection from upper-society, Isabella discovered her spirit and cast off expectations.
Freed by travel, Isabella explores the world of art, ideas, and letters, meeting and befriending such kindred spirits as Henry James and Oscar Wilde. From London and Paris to Egypt and Asia, she develops a keen eye for paintings and objects, and meets feminists ready to transform nineteenth century thinking in the twentieth century. Isabella becomes an eccentric trailblazer, painted by John Singer Sargent in a portrait of daring décolletage, and fond of such stunts as walking a pair of lions in the Boston Public Garden.
The Lioness of Boston is a portrait of what society expected a woman’s life to be, shattered by a courageous soul who rebelled and determined to live on her own terms.
Praise
Boston Globe Bestseller/Indie Bookstore Bestseller
“Must-Read Book of Spring 2023,” Town & Country
“Brings Isabella Stewart Gardner fully, intimately alive—irrepressible and avid for life. In this richly compelling novel, Emily Franklin beautifully conjures this extraordinary woman and her world.” —Claire Messud, author of The Emperor’s Children
“Gorgeous writing enhances this absorbing portrait of a fascinating woman ahead of her time.”
—Toronto Star
Jackie In this mesmerizing novel about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, acclaimed author Dawn Tripp has crafted an intimate story of love and power, family and tragedy, loss and reinvention.
Jackie is the story of a woman who forged a legacy out of grief and shaped history even as she was living it—a deeply private person with a nuanced, formidable intellect. It is the story of a love affair, a complicated marriage, and the fracturing of identity that comes in the wake of unthinkable violence.
When Jackie meets the charismatic congressman Jack Kennedy in Georgetown, she is twenty-one and dreaming of France. She has won an internship at Vogue, and she thinks Kennedy is not her kind of adventure: “Too American. Too good-looking. Too boy.” Yet she is drawn to his mind, his humor, and his drive. The chemistry between them ignites. During the White House years, the love between two independent people deepens. Then, a motorcade in Dallas: “Three and a half seconds—that’s all it was—a slivered instant between the first shot, which missed the car, and the second, which did not. . . . A hypnotic burst of sunlight off her bracelet as she waved.”
This spare, exquisite novel is a window into the world of a woman who led many different lives: Jackie, Jacks, Jacqueline, Miss Bouvier, Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Onassis, Jackie O. It is at once a deeply human story and a captivating work of imagination that comes right up against what she was thinking and feeling, what she was afraid of, fought for, and believed in.
Praise
“An intimate episodic narrative…Tripp’s wonderful, pointillistic skill with physical description and the deft, empathetic leaps she takes – jumping off from letters, contemporary memories and photographs snapped of the former First Lady – gives JACKIE undeniable punch…Tripp’s book stands out for its psychological acuity…notable for its emphasis on the intelligence and grace of this valiant woman.” – The Washington Post
“Tripp’s fictional portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis captures her emotional life, including her marriage to John F. Kennedy, her grief after his assassination, and her complicated marriage to Aristotle Onassis. These weave a thread that’s a testimony to Kennedy Onassis’ resilience.”—Christian Science Monitor, Ten Best Books of June
“If you loved Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham or American Wife, you’ll devour this.” – InStyle
“Perfect for those who can’t get enough of one of the country’s most iconic couple.” – People Magazine
About the Authors
Emily Franklin is the bestselling author of more than twenty novels and a poetry collection, Tell Me How You Got Here. Her award-winning work has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, The Kenyon Review, Guernica, Threepenny Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, and numerous literary magazines as well as long-listed for the London Sunday Times Short Story Award, featured and read aloud on NPR and named notable by the Association of Jewish Libraries.
Dawn Tripp is a nationally bestselling author. Her most recent novel Jackie was just longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award and won the San Diego Writers Festival Historical Fiction Award. Her novel Georgia was finalist for the New England Book Award and winner of the Mary Lynn Kotz Award for Art in Literature. Tripp is the author of three previous novels: Game of Secrets, Moon Tide, and The Season of Open Water, which won the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. Her poems and essays have appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Harvard Review, Conjunctions, NPR, and others. Her books have been published into a dozen languages. She serves on the executive board of the Boston Book Festival and on the board of Gnome Surf: A non-profit surf therapy organization focused on creating a culture shift towards kindness, love, and acceptance for athletes of all abilities. She graduated from Harvard and lives in Massachusetts with her sons
At the Event
Books will be available for purchase at the event and in store. Or order online below.