The Kennedy Girl
Mia Walker is working as a bakery assistant when she’s approached by a man she has never met before. His offer? A plane ticket to Paris and the chance to model for the House of Rousseau. Of course, Mia hesitates to accept. But with no family to keep her in New York City, she takes the leap and moves to Paris, settling in with two roommates, also models. It’s the 1960s and Paris bustles with glamor and excitement.
Mia is a quiet character, reserved, and a little naïve, who initially comes across as a 1960s version of Emily in Paris, albeit without the comic charm of the TV show. Thankfully, the novel’s prologue has put Mia at the scene of a crime, suggesting she may even have killed a man, and this portent of trouble to come compensates for some slower initial sections where Mia sightsees and finds her feet in her new city. As she’s drawn into a Cold War spying network, the pace picks up and the stakes get higher. Happily, Mia turns out to be a lot smarter than initial appearances suggest, not least because when things get dangerous, she’ll need to up her game to escape unscathed. She’ll also have to decide who to trust. Her roommates? Their driver, Luca? Or mysterious fellow American, Philip?
Mixing fashion, glamor, diamonds and romance, The Kennedy Girl is a light thriller. Through mayhem and murder, Mia never seems in too much danger, and for a character who is naïve at the outset, she ends up facing down danger with surprising resolution. Overall, a fun read.
