Reviews

Grace Kelly's marriage was a fairy tale worthy of Hollywood. Quine, a privileged young woman herself, shared in the glamour and excitement as one of Kelly's bridesmaids. Her book is not only a biography of the actress, but by focusing on the lives of Kelly's six close frineds, it also draws a portrait of a generation of women. Beginning in the optimism of the Fifties, these disparate lives mirror much of the change the United States has faced since World War II. At times superficial and at others more philosophical, Quine's work provides an interesting angle to what might otherwise have been a rather standard biography.-- Barbara E. Kemp, Washington State Univ. Lib., Pullman

Quine's father was president of Paramount Pictures; her one-time husband was Jay Kanter, an agent whose clients included Grace Kelly. The author, one of the actress's ``six intimate friends'' who served as her bridesmaids, writes vividly of all their lives and of the media event of 1956, the film star's wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco. The book is exhaustively detailed and opinionated, criticizing the husbands of these privileged women as chauvinists responsible for their failed marriages. Quine tells as well about her own infidelity to Kanter and to her second husband, Anthony Franciosa. Examples of disappointments suffered by actress Rita Gam and the other bridesmaids are interspersed with anecdotes about Hollywood luminaries, the latter dropping almost audibly on the pages. Contrasting with the disclosures of the uncharmed lives of the bridesmaids are accounts that reinforce one's memory of the princess as a loyal wife, mother, friend and worker for her adopted country until her death in 1982. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to Vanity Fair. (June)