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Jack 1939

Francine Mathews (Goodreads Author)

3.70 · Rating details · 1,197 ratings · 284 reviews

Charming. Reckless. Brilliant. Deadly.

A young Jack Kennedy travels to Europe on a secret mission for Franklin Roosevelt as the world braces for war.

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 ...more

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Hardcover, 368 pages

Published July 5th 2012 by Riverhead Books

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And They Called It Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton

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May 07, 2012 Jeanette (Now on StoryGraph) rated it it was ok

Shelves: america, historical-fiction, europe-and-british-isles, all-fiction

I tried hard with this one, but it just wasn't striking the ol' ring-a-ding-ding for me...
I stayed with it all the way to the halfway mark, which is pretty generous on my part. Not only does it feel contrived, it seems to be a deliberate smearing of the Kennedy family. I'm well aware of Joe Senior's pecker-dilloes, and his weird political ideas, and the manipulations that made him a wealthy man, but he had good qualities as well. He raised several fine sons who gave their all, and their lives, w ...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Grady rated it it was amazing

A Terrific Blend of Fact and Fictionalized History

Francine Matthews after twenty some novels knows her craft. She also writes under the name Stephanie Barron and has gained a large following for her series of novels centered on Jane Austen mysteries. Another factor that makes her the obvious choice of server of this excellent novel is the fact that she served as an analyst for the CIA. Blend these ingredients an out comes this intensely entertaining novel JACK 1939 a story whose central characte A Terrific Blend of Fact and Fictionalized History

Francine Matthews after twenty some novels knows her craft. She also writes under the name Stephanie Barron and has gained a large following for her series of novels centered on Jane Austen mysteries. Another factor that makes her the obvious choice of server of this excellent novel is the fact that she served as an analyst for the CIA. Blend these ingredients an out comes this intensely entertaining novel JACK 1939 a story whose central characters included not only the JFK at age 22 years, but also Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain, J. Edgar Hoover, Adolph Hitler and a battery of newly created but equally credible character that help propel this intriguing thriller along. Matthews manages to sharpen out information about these critical figures in a straightforward manner that adds to our appreciation of famous people about whom there are still rarely known facts. She opens her book with a long look at the 22 year old John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the sickly and clearly secondary son of the wealthy Joseph and Rose Kennedy as he is hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic for complications of agranulocytosis and a chronic gastrointestinal disease requiring subcutaneous patches of DOCA (desoxycorticosterone acetate) to be placed by JFK under a cut flap in his leg - further evidence that JFK was man who simply did not know defeat.

The novel deals with FDR's conviction that Hitler is sending money into the USA to underwrite a campaign to prevent FDR from gaining a third term as President: FDR is wary of Hitler's desire for world dominance and will stop at nothing to prevent that from including the USA. He needs a spy to undermine the espionage in Europe and is convinced that the bright, eager, free thinking JFK is the man, despite a medical report that states JFK is 'Believed to be dying at age seventeen-misdiagnosed with leukemia - possible blood or liver disorder - damaged vertebrae while playing football at Harvard - spends several weeks each year at Mayo Clinic, with additional tests at Brigham Hospital - medical consensus: unlikely to thrive.' A series of murders occur all suggesting the presence of Hitler's influence in the US and FDR decides that JFK is the only man whom he can trust to uncover the data behind the realities of the impending WW II. So JFK is sent to Europe via the Queen Mary, meets several women aboard (JFK's proclivity to female companionship is well known), and finally arrives in Europe under the guise of completing his Harvard Senior thesis where the story blossoms into a gut-wrenching tale of espionage that involves all the events that are leading to the inception of WW II.

Readers who desire pure history novels will likely be critical of some of the ways Matthews manipulated facts, but for the reader who loves to identify with famous historic figures as they create a fictitious story in the hands of a novelist with the gifts of Francine Matthews, this book will be certain to appeal.

Grady Harp
...more

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Aug 19, 2012 JoAnne Pulcino rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult-fiction, adult-mystery, adult-thriller, spy

JACK 1939

Francine Mathews

JACK 1939 is a brilliantly conceived and intriguing espionage thriller. Ms. Mathews has done a superb job of placing a 20th century iconic historical figure in an improbable fantasy that encourages you to believe that the man, the story and the situations could be true and makes the read truly fascinating.

War in Europe is imminent but a 22 year old John Fitzgerald Kennedy decides to travel through Europe to research his Harvard senior thesis. President Franklin Delano Ro ...more

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May 31, 2012 Patrice Hoffman rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-reads-giveaways

*I won this book through a goodreads giveaway. It is an uncorrected proof edition.

I wasn't sure what to expect when reading this book. I thought maybe John F. Kennedy would be some sort of secret 007 with a bunch of fancy gadgets. Luckily, this wasn't that book. It was accurate to the time and to the equipment of the time.

A summary of the book is that Jack Kennedy is recruited by Pres. Roosevelt to be a spy for him. Kennedy's cover is that he's researching for his senior thesis. The president's ...more

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Sep 11, 2013 Carol Storm rated it it was amazing

Explosive, heart-stopping suspense! Sizzling forbidden love! Heart breaking tragedy!

As a reader who doesn't really care for spy novels or espionage, I was blown away by JACK: 1939. The historical details were amazing and totally believable. Not only that, but the personal, family, and medical background of real-life President John F. Kennedy were not only meticulously researched and perfect, but they added to the suspense and danger on every page.

Summer 1939. War in Europe is inevitable. Jack ...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Cathy Cole rated it really liked it

First Line: "...patient's 6000 cell count at intake," Dr. George Taylor wrote, "has dropped to 3500."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has secretly decided to run for an unprecedented third term in office. He knows that Europe is on the brink of another world war, and he believes more in his own abilities to carry the United States through than he does in any of his likely successors. But he does need someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. Since the United States does not h First Line: "...patient's 6000 cell count at intake," Dr. George Taylor wrote, "has dropped to 3500."

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has secretly decided to run for an unprecedented third term in office. He knows that Europe is on the brink of another world war, and he believes more in his own abilities to carry the United States through than he does in any of his likely successors. But he does need someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. Since the United States does not have an intelligence service (spies), Roosevelt chooses his own-- twenty-two-year-old John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The young Jack Kennedy is in ill health more often than not, and of all the Kennedy children, he's considered to be the least promising, the black sheep. But he's also the son of Roosevelt's ambassador to Great Britain, he's a well-traveled young man with a diplomatic passport, and he knows many people. Roosevelt sees something in Jack, something that reminds him of himself. Jack agrees to Roosevelt's proposal, and in the spring of 1939, he's off to Europe aboard the Queen Mary, ostensibly to gather material for his senior thesis at Harvard. Only Roosevelt, Jack, and the president's most trusted bodyguard know that Jack is looking for the people responsible for a flood of German money into the United States-- a monetary tsunami intended to buy the 1940 presidential election... an election that Hitler is determined Roosevelt will lose.

Former CIA intelligence analyst Francine Mathews has crafted a terrific blend of fact and fiction that drew me in from the very first page. I loved how Roosevelt skillfully tapdances around the slimy, secretive J. Edgar Hoover, who spends most of his time trying to compile blackmail-worthy dossiers on all the powerful people in the country. When the action is in Europe, time and time again the British pop up with some needed help, showing us all that they know plenty about the spy business.

But of course, the focus of the book is on the young Jack Kennedy. His constant, mysterious illnesses have made him unafraid of death and determined to live fully during the time he has got. He knows how to think on his feet, how to observe, and he learns very quickly. He falls in love with a beautiful woman during the Atlantic crossing aboard the Queen Mary, and he shadows Diana Playfair from place to place until they finally hook up to get the information that Roosevelt needs. And when the information begins to fall into place, Jack learns that his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, is right in the middle of things. Which is going to be more important to Jack-- his mission for Roosevelt or his family's integrity?

I found Jack's love interest, Diana Playfair, too cold and brittle to ever really care about, so that part of the story palled a bit for me. Besides the scenes in which Roosevelt shone, the best often showed Jack interacting with his brothers and sisters. At times it seemed that Mathews' portrayal of Rose Kennedy and Jack's elder brother Joe was too one-sided, but I have read a lot about the family, and everything that's said about all the Kennedys in Jack 1939 is pretty accurate. I think Rose and Joe Jr. were painted with the saint brush after their deaths: Joe the Golden Boy, killed too young and not allowed to fulfill his promise, and Rose, the bereaved mother who lost two sons so tragically in the 1960s.

While I'm speaking of the Kennedys, one scene that did not ring true for me at all was the scene at the end where Jack lays down the law to his father, Joe. No way, no how would that scene ever happen. However, this scene and the character of the icy Diana Playfair were not enough to ruin my enjoyment of this book.

This was a fun read from beginning to end, and I enjoyed Mathews' skillful blend of history and the storytelling art. Seeing a young JFK spying his way around a Europe on the edge of war, as a young man falling in love, learning how to use cyphers and radios, being followed by a psychotic Nazi killer, and getting himself out of one close call only to fall right into another... I read this book in a little over a day, and when I came up for air, I had a big smile on my face.

...more

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May 18, 2016 Joe Cummings rated it really liked it

I never thought that someone from my generation could write a novel about JFK. He was/is too much a part of our lives. Stephen King sort of did with 11/22/63, but that was more about preventing the assassination than about Kennedy himself.

Just as everyone the my parent's generation (aka the Greatest Generation) can remember where they were on Pearl Harbor day, everyone in my generation (aka the Baby Boomers) remember where they were when they heard the news from Dallas. For us, Kennedy was the I never thought that someone from my generation could write a novel about JFK. He was/is too much a part of our lives. Stephen King sort of did with 11/22/63, but that was more about preventing the assassination than about Kennedy himself.

Just as everyone the my parent's generation (aka the Greatest Generation) can remember where they were on Pearl Harbor day, everyone in my generation (aka the Baby Boomers) remember where they were when they heard the news from Dallas. For us, Kennedy was the greatest member (with the possible exception of our parents) of the Greatest Generation. It seemed appropriate that the first Baby Boomer president Bill Clinton had as a youth traveled to the White House as a youth and shook the hand of his idol John Fitzgerald Kennedy. It seemed right; it seemed like kismet. JFK was our hero.

Author Francine Mathews, ironically enough, was born 1963 at the end of the Baby Boom and thus escaped the onus of memory. Her 2012 novel Jack 1939 recasts summer of JFK's junior year at Harvard when he traveled around Europe collecting information for his senior thesis. The result of his research and thesis became Kennedy's first book-Why England Slept. In this spy novel, young Jack is also the secret eyes and ears of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

So what sort of spy is young Jack on the spectrum that runs from Ian Fleming's James Bond to John le Carré's George Smiley? Read the book. Ironically, both the movie Doctor No and the novel The Spy Who Came In From The Cold were released in 1963. Perhaps Kennedy had enjoyed both of them.

Many authors in this genre practice a sort of product placement to make their stories more real and authentic. While Mathews followed this practice, she realized that a novel about JFK life was more than expensive whiskeys, Savile Row suits and Gitanes cigarettes. So wisely in her novel, Matthews' "product placement" is the great men of America and Western Europe like FDR and Winston Churchill who were a part of the real JFK's life.

This novel was well researched and well written. I like to think JFK would have enjoyed it I hope you like it, too. ...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Dana Stabenow rated it really liked it

Shelves: hpl-s-15-in-16

What if FDR sent a twenty-one year old JFK to Europe on the very eve of World War II itself in order to find out if and how Hitler is smuggling money into the US to influence the next election?

"I've been turning it over in my mind, Jack--this trip of yours," the President was saying. "To the Nazis, you're just the American ambassador's son. But to me, you're a perfect spy. My independent thinker. Arriving in London with a fresh outlook and an unclouded mind. As far as the Nazis are concerned, yo ...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Reeves Honey rated it it was amazing

***** STARS

JACK 1939 = 007!

If Roosevelt and Dashiel Hammet were alive they would say "darn good spy yarn". .This is actually what this novel is.
In winter,1939 Jack,second and so far unremarkable also ran son of Joseph Kennedy,ambassador to England is summoned by
President Roosevelt just before he is to sail for England on the Queen Mary in early 1939. He is going to see his
Family in London but also plans to tour Europe for his Harvard senior thesis. Which later became Why England Slept.
Using thi ...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Jaylia3 rated it really liked it

Mostly wonderful

Could young JFK have been a pre-WWII spy for FDR? Author Francine Mathews has done her historical homework and created a mostly wonderful story that makes the possibility seem plausible. In 1939 the then 22-year-old John Kennedy was in fact roaming around the hot spots of Europe. His father Joe Kennedy was the American ambassador to Britain, and while the senior Kennedy supported Neville Chamberlin’s policy of appeasing Hitler to avoid war, JFK’s own writings indicate his thinkin ...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Gordon Paisley rated it liked it

Recommends it for: people who enjoy WW2 historical fiction

Shelves: review-program, historical-fiction

Really wish I could have given it 4.5 stars.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance copy of this book with the expectation that I would provide an honest review.

I enjoy historical fiction and I am always intrigued by the idea of a story where an author undertakes to fill in the gaps of history with her idea of what might have happened. The author has researched Kennedy’s itinerary in the spring and summer of 1939 and re-created in this book.

Jack 1939 is about John Kennedy’s senior thesis ...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Tina rated it really liked it

In 1939, the US had no spy service, no CIA, and had to rely on the intuition of its leaders along with unofficial reports on the actions of world leaders and governments for the nation's security. As Europe ground inexorably toward another war in 1939, President Roosevelt needed to get information quickly, quietly, and completely outside State department channels. At the same time, Jack Kennedy, son of the US Ambassador to the Court of St. James (England) was planning to spend the summer and a s ...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Nathan rated it did not like it

I'm not sure what's with historical fiction authors' attachment to JFK recently. Don't want to seem brash but I think they are looking back with rose-tinted glasses. Francine Mathew's new novel follows JFK through Europe before the start of WW2 working as a spy for Roosevelt under the guise of researching his senior thesis, in order to track down a money laundering scheme by the Nazis to influence the next US election with a more pacifist-minded candidate.

I'm a fan of historical fiction, but am ...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Lauren rated it it was ok

Shelves: stopped-reading

The tagline for this book is: "Charming. Reckless. Brilliant. Deadly."

Mine would be: "Fun for a bit, but got too silly for me."

The premise is this: The year is 1939. FDR chooses young John "Jack" Kennedy -- fresh from Harvard -- to be his spy in Europe. Though outlandish and unrealistic, it's not completely farfetched... Not completely. Kennedy's family was politically prominent. His father held the significant post of U.S. Ambassador to England at the time. And a young Jack Kennedy certainly m ...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Beth rated it liked it

Interesting premise to write fiction within a story of JFK's actual 22nd year traveling around Europe. His trip on the Queen Mary and the places he went are historically documented. The author is a person who knows her history and who has also worked for the CIA. It takes this kind of person to put together this kind of spy mystery.

Portraying Jack as a lover of a married man seems true but the woman as described does not. I could believe the dastardlyness of the man called the "Spider" because ...more

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Oct 26, 2015 Bruce Most rated it really liked it

John F. Kennedy as a spy? That’s the outlandish but inventive premise in Mathews’ tale of 22-year-old JFK gallivanting through Europe on the brink of war. Kennedy, in fact, did travel through Europe just before the war doing research for his senior college thesis. What Mathews has reimagined is President Roosevelt convincing JFK to secretly try to get a sense of what the Nazis are up to. Behind FDR’s request is his suspicion that Hitler is funneling money into the United States in order to help ...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Tim rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-reads

Good book, mix of a good James Bond spy tale with some Sherlock Holmes. In this alternate reality, John F Kennedy tours Europe on the brink of World War II as a spy for President Roosevelt.
There's a lot of good action. Even though it's fictional, the book prides an excellent look into the private life of the Kennedys, particularly JFK as a college student and how he gained a passion for politics.
There are a few memorable characters, including Willi Dobler, Grubbins and Diana, that are great ad ...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Holly rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book. It's rather an old-fashioned spy story set in 1939 at the brink of war worldwide. What's special about this book is that the main character is Jack Kennedy and the whole Kennedy clan serves as a sub-plot for the book. A fictionalized account of what Jack might have been doing as he roamed Europe during the late 1930s, it's a great story. It's also fun to be able to imagine the actual faces of so many of the characters (FDR, Hoover, Churchill, Chamberlain, etc.). The a ...more

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Jun 20, 2013 Andrew Newman rated it really liked it

Some of you have been posting asking for recommendations for summer reading. If you like historical fiction, I highly recommend Jack 1939 by Denver author Francine Matthews. The book imagines if JFK were actually a spy for Roosevelt during his senior thesis trip to Europe in 1939 (the results of which became a real book, Why England Slept). It’s fast-paced, colorful, and creates an interesting and believable picture of pre-war Europe. My 2 minor complaints are that a few plot points turn on a ve ...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Sue Davis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mysteries, thriller

What makes this novel so interesting is the way the author weaves the actual history of the time JFK spent in Europe in 1939 doing the research for his thesis with what might have happened had FDR hired Joe Kennedy's son to expose the Nazis' attempt (with the help of Joe Kennedy himself) to influence the presidential election so that Joe Kennedy would be elected and the US would not have entered the war in Europe. I learned quite a lot about the Kennedy family as well as the Mitford sisters (wow ...more

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Jan 16, 2014 Mark rated it really liked it

JFK toured Europe in 1939 to research his Harvard thesis which later became the best selling book, "Why England Slept" This book gives a fictional, historically correct, new slant. JFK was really a spy for Franklin Roosevelt on that trip. Wonderful reading for those who know their JFK and WWII history. ...more

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Aug 07, 2018 Allison rated it did not like it

Ugh! Finally finished it. I didn't enjoy this book in the least. I know it's fiction. But, I felt it was a little ridiculous. 21 year old Jack is basically on his death bed with some mysterious illness, but can traipse around Europe in pre-WWII uncertainty and drink like a fish and have mad, passionate sex. Umm, probably not. ...more

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Jul 15, 2013 Phyllis added it

Based on a study of Jack Kennedy and his travels during the 1930's the author has created a marvelous historical fiction novel. I was intrigued with the relationship Jack had with his father, Joe and Jack's siblings. This novel makes me want to read more about this time period and Poland. ...more

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Dec 29, 2016 Paige Jackson rated it it was amazing

A really fun and easy read. JFK (Jack) is recruited by FDR to be a spy in pre WWII Europe and get details about Hitler and how he's funneling money to fuel his campaign in the impending German election. A great mix of fact and fiction, but a fun thriller. ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Sidna rated it really liked it

What a brilliant concept! The author took a real person who is beloved by those of us of a certain generation and asked "What if FDR asked him to spy for the US as he traveled around Germany prior to WWII?" In 1960 when JFK was running for president, I was a high school sophomore. He came to our town to campaign and I was privileged to see him in person. He was the most handsome, charismatic man I have ever seen! Even in a crowd of several hundred people on the town square, he was overwhelming s What a brilliant concept! The author took a real person who is beloved by those of us of a certain generation and asked "What if FDR asked him to spy for the US as he traveled around Germany prior to WWII?" In 1960 when JFK was running for president, I was a high school sophomore. He came to our town to campaign and I was privileged to see him in person. He was the most handsome, charismatic man I have ever seen! Even in a crowd of several hundred people on the town square, he was overwhelming so it was easy for me to imagine women falling at his feet when he was 21 years old and throughout his life.

The cover of the book states that this is a novel and in the Author's Notes at the end, Mathews states that the book is fiction. However, I have a feeling that there was a lot of truth in it about JFK's health issues and his family. Although in the public eye, the Kennedy's seemed like a close-knit family, apparently they were not. Jack and his older brother Joe didn't have the close relationship that I had always assumed they had. Jack seemed to take care of his younger siblings in a way that Joe did not. Although Joe died so young that we really don't know much about him. In the book, Bobby is a teenager and didn't have much personality. They didn't seem to have the close relationship I had always imagined, either. Of course, Teddy is a little boy.

In this book, which takes place in 1939 immediately before the start of WWII, a 21-year-old kid is preparing to travel around Europe to gather material for his senior thesis at Harvard. JFK's father is the Ambassador to England so the family members have access and privileges that an ordinary person would not have. Before Jack leaves for Europe, FDR has a secret meeting with him and asks him to spy for the US and send reports directly to FDR without his father's or anyone else's knowledge. What follows is a classic spy adventure, hampered by JFK's medical issues, but fast- paced and interesting nonetheless.

Much of the book is not plausible, but much is. In the book, JFK and his father do not have a good relationship. Joe Kennedy is all about making money and not interested in politics, even though he does not want Roosevelt to run for a third term because he wants to be president himself. WWII is looming and jack, who is fascinated by politics, can see it, but his father wants to appease Hitler. There must be some truth in that because a few days ago I read in another book that at JFK's inauguration Joe Kennedy said, "I don't know how he did it. I could not have done it myself. I never understood that kid." That pretty much sums up their relationship in this book.

In the end, Jack came to admire Roosevelt greatly. That makes sense, too. During Jack's campaign, I heard that he decided to use his initials as FDR had done. At the time, I didn't think much of it, but now I think it was a way of paying homage to FDR.

Reading about Jack in this book and knowing the story of his life in later years made it all the more interesting to me. In this book, he evades death at the hands of assassins more than once, only to be assassinated by the same type of person 24 years later. Talk about irony! How we wish he had still been the kid who was able to evade those who wanted to kill him. ...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Steve rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-reads

[Disclaimer: I won this book through a goodreads giveaway. It is an uncorrected proof edition.]

Jack is John F. Kennedy (JFK). In 1939 he is a Junior at Harvard with serious (and historically accurate) medical issues. He has arranged to spend his Spring term and summer doing independent study in Europe (also historically acurate).

Other facts the book is based on:

o President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), foreseeing a world war and dissatisfied with the foreign intelligence the State Department and mil ...more

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Jun 16, 2020 Fay rated it really liked it

I did enjoy this book a lot. I originally am from MA and have always been a Kennedy fan which prompted me to get the book in the first place. I did have trouble getting into it as I struggled with Jack being so young and unfocused. I reconciled this when I finally accepted that this is a novel, fiction, and thus, not reality! The storyline introduces many of the people who were in office in 1039 as WWII was developing and gives them some interesting roles to play. How much of it is true I cannot ...more

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Jul 05, 2018 Cindy rated it liked it

At times, this story was strong and page-turning. Other times it was confusing, references too obscure, and not real clear. It finished strong, which makes me like it almost enough to bump it to 4 stars, so a solid 3.5 stars instead.
Parts of this book are eerily similar to some things in today’s political climate. It is also weird to picture the man we know as president in such an adventurous role. It is of course fiction, but it remains hard to reconcile the character with the presidential per ...more

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May 03, 2018 Jennifer rated it it was ok

I read this book to the end because it had sentimental value to me, but I just couldn't get into it. The author categorizes it as a novel, but other than a couple of key players, I don't think that this book is anything other than fictitious. 22-year-old JFK is asked to spy on the Germans and his father Joe Kennedy by the President of the United States, FDR.

It isn't mentioned in the book, but it peaked my interest about Presidential term limits. FDR was President until he died - more than 12 ye ...more

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Sep 12, 2020 AnonymousReaderPerson rated it liked it · review of another edition

A pretty muddy middle (say that three times fast), book-ended by two solid thirds.

I came into this book pretty indifferent to the Kennedys, relatively speaking anyway. Some love them, some hate them, though I suspect all can appreciate their contributions - quite literally, their lives in many cases - to our nation. And maybe this is a good reminder that we can take those contributions for granted, fictionalized though this account may be.

Strangely, it's the middle where the good stuff actually ...more

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About Francine Mathews

Francine Mathews

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Francine Mathews was born in Binghamton, NY in 1963, the last of six girls. Her father was a retired general in the Air Force, her mother a beautiful woman who loved to dance. The family spent their summers on Cape Cod, where two of the Barron girls now live with their families; Francine's passion for Nantucket and the New England shoreline dates from her earliest memories. She grew up in Washingt Francine Mathews was born in Binghamton, NY in 1963, the last of six girls. Her father was a retired general in the Air Force, her mother a beautiful woman who loved to dance. The family spent their summers on Cape Cod, where two of the Barron girls now live with their families; Francine's passion for Nantucket and the New England shoreline dates from her earliest memories. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, a two hundred year-old Catholic school for girls that shares a wall with Georgetown University. Her father died of a heart attack during her freshman year.

In 1981, she started college at Princeton – one of the most formative experiences of her life. There she fenced for the club varsity team and learned to write news stories for The Daily Princetonian – a hobby that led to two part-time jobs as a journalist for The Miami Herald and The San Jose Mercury News. Francine majored in European History, studying Napoleonic France, and won an Arthur W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities in her senior year. But the course she remembers most vividly from her time at Princeton is "The Literature of Fact," taught by John McPhee, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker. John influenced Francine's writing more than even she knows and certainly more than she is able to say.

Francine spent three years at Stanford pursuing a doctorate in history; she failed to write her dissertation (on the Brazilian Bar Association under authoritarianism; can you blame her?) and left with a Masters. She applied to the CIA, spent a year temping in Northern Virginia while the FBI asked inconvenient questions of everyone she had ever known, passed a polygraph test on her twenty-sixth birthday, and was immediately thrown into the Career Trainee program: Boot Camp for the Agency's Best and Brightest. Four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA were profoundly fulfilling, the highlights being Francine's work on the Counter terrorism Center's investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and sleeping on a horsehair mattress in a Spectre-era casino in the middle of Bratislava.

Another peak moment was her chance to debrief ex-President George Bush in Houston in 1993. But what she remembers most about the place are the extraordinary intelligence and dedication of most of the staff – many of them women – many of whom cannot be named.

She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Fifteen books have followed, along with sundry children, dogs, and houses. When she's not writing, she likes to ski, garden, needlepoint, and buy art. ...more