Camelot

By Caryl Rivers

“A mystical valentine to JFK’s media-savvy presidency.” –Publisher’s Weekly

“Rivers manages to include all the elements of the Sixties.” –Library Journal

From the international bestselling author of VIRGINS comes this hilarious take on the sexual politics and high seriousness of the Kennedy years. A young White House reporter's evolution from personal ambition to public spirit is brilliantly set against a background of advancing civil rights and the first stirrings of American involvement in Vietnam.

CAMELOT is the story of Mary Springer, an up-and-coming White House reporter from a small Belvedere, MD, paper who is—by the standards of 1963—way ahead of her time. After striking up an acquaintance with President Kennedy when assigned to cover the White House for her paper, Mary's personal and professional lives converge once she becomes involved in a crisis when city planners want to raze a mostly black neighborhood and build luxury apartments. While Martin Luther King Jr. prepares to march on Washington, racial violence erupts in Belvedere and the president tragically goes about his last days. Working beside Jay Broderick, a charismatic photographer, and Don Johnson, a gifted young black man recently returned from the freedom rides to the South, Mary finally connects with the spirit of liberty and egalitarianism that are the legacy of the Camelot years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Release date: Mar 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781626810037

Reviews for Camelot

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's 1963, and Mary Springer is just starting to feel confident in her abilities as a reporter for the Belvedere (MD) Blade. Blade photographer Jay Broderick is itching to do more with his talent than mundane local news photos. And Don Johnson, a young black writer who has just returned from the Freedom Rides, is torn between desire to pursue writing and commitment to advancing civil rights. Their lives intertwine as competing forces of personal ambition, passion, and growing civic and political awareness draw them together and push them in new directions.

And in interludes, we enter the mind of JFK as he deals with both national and personal issues as late summer and early fall pass, and his November trip to Dallas approaches.

This is a lovely meditation on the early sixties, the changes happening then, and the way they affected people's lives. The civil rights movement is beginning to feel its strength, and the first stirrings of the women's rights movement are coming to life. But nothing comes without price, and Mary, Jay, and Don all have painful choices to make, and suffer losses they can't avoid.

Rivers' sense of the feelings as well as the facts of the sixties, and delicately expert character development, make this a rewarding and interesting read.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.