The Lost Diary of M

Wolfe debuts with this captivating fictionalization of the life and death of Mary Pinchot Meyer, a mistress to JFK, ex-wife to a high-ranking member of the CIA, and the victim of one of Washington, D.C.’s most notorious unsolved murder. Wolfe tells the story of this headstrong artist and socialite through diary entries: Mary attends dinner parties thrown by power brokers as Cold War politics and paranoia loom over government administrators, and documents her affair with the president, the culmination of decades of desire between the two. Mary is at her most unguarded when with JFK, whether in moments of intimacy or engaged in tense political debate. After Kennedy’s assassination, Mary’s refusal to accept the official explanation provokes the same powerful forces she wined and dined with to shadow her, leading to a dramatic ending. While Wolfe’s workaday prose does not always meet the enthralling facts of Mary’s life, fans of political dramas will enjoy this new take on a contentious time in the nation’s history. [em](Feb.) [/em]