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Ryan Murphy’s Love Story has captured the attention of audiences both deeply familiar and unfamiliar with JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s lives, and reignited America’s deep fascination with and adoration for the couple. The Sarah Pidgeon- and Paul Anthony Kelly-fronted season is intended to be the first of many stories captured in FX’s new anthology series, and is inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s 2024 New York Times Best Seller, Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.
In addition to Beller’s biography, which, at time of publish, is ranked no. 1 on Amazon’s Women in History list and no. 6 under Women’s Biographies, there are a number of other books from the past 20+ years currently moving up best-seller charts as Murphy’s series takes off. Below, The Hollywood Reporter listed out 10 of the most popular works documenting the life of the pair, both individually and as a couple.
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Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy
By Elizabeth Beller
Beller’s 352-page Bessette-Kennedy biography features exclusive interviews with friends, family, teachers, roommates and colleagues, along with never-before-seen photos.
CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion
By Sunita Kumar Nair
For those enthralled by Bessette’s classic and effortless style, we’ll point you towards the CBK coffee table book, a combination of photography and never-before-published personal anecdotes from friends and family.
America’s Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr.
By Steven M. Gillon
The nearly 500-page biography provides a portrait of JFK Jr. by decades-long friend and historian Steven M. Gillon. Spanning from before his birth to his final day, America’s Reluctant Prince features exclusive interviews and details from previously classified documents.
Fairy Tale Interrupted: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Loss
By RoseMarie Terenzio
One of the most popular works on JFK Jr., Fairy Tale Interrupted was written by RoseMarie Terenzio, his executive assistant of five years.
Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed
By Maureen Callahan
Currently ranked no. 4 on both Amazon’s Women in History list and Political Leader Biographies ranking, Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed “reveals the Kennedys’ hidden history of violence and exploitation… from Jacqueline Onassis and Marilyn Monroe to Carolyn Bessette, Martha Moxley, Mary Jo Kopechne, Rosemary Kennedy, and many others whose names aren’t nearly as well known but should be,” according to the book’s summary.
The Good Son: JFK Jr. and the Mother He Loved
By Christopher Andersen
The Good Son is for readers interested in the dynamic between JFK. Jr and his mother Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography
By RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil
Written alongside Liz McNeil, the 2024 book is a follow-up to RoseMarie Terenzio’s Fairy Tale Interrupted.
The Men We Became: My Friendship with John F. Kennedy, Jr.
By Robert T. Littell
The 2004 biography was written by JFK Jr.’s friend Rob Littell, who met Kennedy as a freshman during orientation week at Brown.
Forever Young: My Friendship with John F. Kennedy, Jr.
By William Sylvester Noonan with Robert Huber
Another portrait of Kennedy by a close friend, Forever Young “describes the shared loss that bonded their childhoods, the author’s witness to John Jr.’s marriage to Carolyn Bessette, and the heartbreaking aftermath of the plane crash that ended their lives,” reads the book summary.
PEOPLE Special Edition John & Carolyn Kennedy
Available for pre-order before official release date of Feb. 27, 2026.
See also the 2019 magazine: PEOPLE John F. Kennedy Jr.: An American Life.
