Rosemary: the Hidden Kennedy Daughter

Publisher Marketing: They were the most prominent American family of the twentieth century. The daughter they secreted away made all the difference. Joe and Rose Kennedy s strikingly beautiful daughter Rosemary attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the queen of England, and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters. And yet, Rosemary was intellectually disabled a secret fiercely guarded by her powerful and glamorous family. Major new sources Rose Kennedy s diaries and correspondence, school and doctors letters, and exclusive family interviews bring Rosemary to life as a girl adored but left far behind by her competitive siblings. Kate Larson reveals both the sensitive care Rose and Joe gave to Rosemary and then, as the family s standing reached an apex, the often desperate and duplicitous arrangements the Kennedys made to keep her away from home as she became increasingly intractable in her early twenties. Finally, Larson illuminates Joe s decision to have Rosemary lobotomized at age twenty-three and the family s complicity in keeping the secret."Rosemary" delivers a profoundly moving coda: JFK visited Rosemary for the first time while campaigning in the Midwest; she had been living isolated in a Wisconsin institution for nearly twenty years. Only then did the siblings understand what had happened to Rosemary and bring her home for loving family visits. It was a reckoning that inspired them to direct attention to the plight of the disabled, transforming the lives of millions." Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/15/2015 pg. 59 (EAN 9780547250250, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2015 (EAN 9780547250250, Hardcover) People Weekly 09/14/2015 pg. 52 (EAN 9780547250250, Hardcover) Library Journal 10/01/2015 pg. 90 (EAN 9780547250250, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Larson, Kate Clifford KATE CLIFFORD LARSON is the author of two critically acclaimed biographies: Bound For the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero and The Assassin s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln. She has been a consultant and interpretive specialist for numerous museum and public history initiatives, focusing on the lives and contributions of women in the making of our national identity.