Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy

Kathryn Griffin Swegart reviews the upcoming biography of Ethel Kennedy, whose deep faith helped her to endure family trials and tragedies.

Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy 

By Kerry Kennedy

Published by Harper One; releases October 13, 2026

It is difficult for me to know where to begin writing a review of this biography of Ethel Kennedy, written by her daughter Kerry. You see, I was born to an Irish Catholic family in a Boston suburb. My parents admired President John F. Kennedy and passed this admiration on to our family.

I was in junior high school when the world learned of the assassination of President Kennedy. My sister and I cried all the way home from school. Stores displayed framed JFK photographs draped in black cloths. I also remember the shock of Robert Kennedy’s murder. The Kennedy legacy is all quite personal to me.

Kerry Kennedy has written a book that describes her mother’s life filled with joys and unimaginable tragedy, of mischievous humor and adventurous spirit. Raised in the rags-to-riches Skakel family, Ethel fell in love with Bobby. Together they had eleven children. Pregnant with her eleventh child, she witnessed her husband’s death. Most of the world wondered how she could bear up under this horrific tragedy.

The Source of Ethel Kennedy's Courage

Kerry unlocks the door to her mother’s courage. Ethel Kennedy was a woman of deep faith, devoted to daily Mass attendance.

Ethel once described the Mass as “the anchor of my life, a daily nurturing. With all the vicissitudes of life I think we’d go wacky without something solid at the center. It is the time of my day that is not a whirlwind. A time to be quiet.”

How did Ethel Kennedy cope in those dark days after Bobby’s death? Her faith was the anchor. She had other coping mechanisms. Kerry addresses this directly: trust in God, maintain routines, exercise, serve others and “whenever possible, to change her relationship with a problem she could not solve.”

Some might call that last one emotional intelligence. Kerry calls it her “secret recipe.” In the face of heartbreaking “vicissitudes of life,” Ethel persevered. “She found a way to laugh, to take life lightly, to move forward.”

In one heartbreaking chapter titled "Aftermath," Kerry writes of the traumatic affects her father’s murder had on the family. She admitted suffering from PTSD. Two of her brothers, David and Bobby Jr., suffered from serious heroin addiction. Bobby beat the addiction, but David died of an overdose.

One telling example that reveals Ethel’s fortitude is the story of a sailing trip she took with her husband and family in 1965. It was to be a lovely ten-day sailing trip from Long Island up the coast of Maine aboard a 75-foot schooner, piloted by a professional skipper. Before the trip even started, Bobby Jr. had an accident that required 100 stitches. Out on the seas, a storm whipped up crashing waves and high winds. Suddenly, a Coast Guard cutter appeared with a crew member shouting to them through a megaphone. Their daughter Kathleen had fallen off a horse during a show and sustained a head injury. She might not survive.

“We need one of the parents to come aboard.” Bobby jumped overboard, swam to the boat and almost drowned. Waves rose to twenty feet. It all was too much for the captain. He retreated below deck with a bottle of booze. Who took the helm and brought them safely to shore? You guessed it. For six hours, Ethel Kennedy struggled at the tiller against 20-foot waves and high winds to save the family from disaster. Many years later, Ethel admitted that she suffered a miscarriage during the sailing crisis.

Ethel Kennedy passed away on October 10, 2024 at the age of 96.

Kerry Kennedy has written an unforgettable biography and fitting tribute to her mother. It is based on firsthand memories and access to unpublished letters. At times, Kerry does veer into current politics. That should not be surprising. After all, Kerry is a Kennedy.

The book is scheduled for release in October 2026 and is complete with never-before-seen family photos. I recommend this book both as a slice of American history and as an inspiring story of a woman with unflagging faith and hope.

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Copyright 2026 Kathryn Swegart
Images: (top) detail from cover