If you like the TV show Mad Men you will love the upcoming book Jack 1939: A Novel (Riverhead Books, July 2012) by Francine Mathews. Keep reading after the Mad Men era inspired photos of myself with Jack 1939: A Novel for more information about the upcoming release from Riverhead Books.
I thought of Betty Draper Francis immediately when I heard about Francine Matthews’s latest novel. It seemed like the kind of thing Betty might read and then discuss later with her friends over drinks and cigarettes around the kitchen island.
I’m not sure what evokes the Mad Men aesthetic more in the above picture. Is it my completely realistic and not at all synthetic blonde “Betty” wig or the digital frame in the background?
Side Note: The ladies at the wig shop loved me and we had kind of a Pretty Womanesque montage of me trying on wigs going at one point. Actually, on second thought they might not have loved me that much. I wobbled in there after a two cocktail lunch, and I might have just been doing all of the Pretty Womaning by myself while they looked on in horror. At one point they asked me to put on a wig cap. I’m not quite sure what happened, but I walked out with that wig. I’m pretty positive I paid for it. You might also want to know that I did not drive myself to the wig shop. Nate did. He didn’t even ask why we were going to a wig shop. He’s used to my antics.
A Perfect Pairing: Jack 1939 by Francine Mathews and Champagne in a vintage Dorothy Thorpe silver rimmed glass.
About Jack 1939: A Novel by Francine Matthew
It’s the spring of 1939, and the prospect of war in Europe looms large. The United States has no intelligence service. In Washington, D.C., President Franklin Roosevelt may run for an unprecedented third term and needs someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. His choice: John F. Kennedy.
It’s a surprising selection. At twenty-two, Jack Kennedy is the attractive but unpromising second son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Roosevelt’s ambassador to Britain (and occasional political adversary). But when Jack decides to travel through Europe to gather research for his Harvard senior thesis, Roosevelt takes the opportunity to use him as his personal spy. The president’s goal: to stop the flow of German money that has been flooding the United States to buy the 1940 election—an election that Adolf Hitler intends Roosevelt lose.
In a deft mosaic of fact and fiction, Francine Mathews has written a gripping espionage tale that explores what might have happened when a young Jack Kennedy is let loose in Europe as the world careens toward war. A potent combination of history and storytelling, Jack 1939 is a sexy, entertaining read. (Summary provided by Riverhead Books.)
Jack 1939 by Francine Mathews will be released on July 2012 from Riverhead Books. Click here to like Francine Mathews on Facebook.
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This is part two of a nine part Mad Men inspired series. Click the following links for the other posts in the series:
Part One: Joan Harris reads The Receptionist: An Education At The New Yorker by Jane Groth
Part Two: Betty Draper Francis reads Jack 1939: A Novel by Francine Mathews
Part Three: Peggy Olson reads Sex and The Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown
Part Four: Trudie Campbell reads Jackie After O: One Remarkable Year When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Defied Expectations and Rediscovered Her Dreams by Tina Cassidy.
Part Five: Mad Men inspired 8×10 print by Flapperdoodle
Part Six: Megan Draper reads Dear Enemies: A Dialogue on French and English Canada by Gwethalyn Graham and Solange Chaput Rolland
Coming Soon: The Unofficial Mad Men Cook Book by Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin, Mad Men Unbuttoned by Natasha Vargas-Cooper, and Jane Sterling reads The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based On The Tibetan Book Of The Dead by Timothy Leary. As Jane Sterling is the grand finale of this series, that post will be interesting.
If you are a publisher with a forthcoming book that viewers of Mad Men may enjoy let me know by emailing me at wellreadwife [at] gmail [dot] com.
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book used in this post from the publisher. I also receive a small commission from any purchases made through the Amazon.com links in this post.
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I love these posts, for the record. You knock the Mad Med style out of the park.