What Remains

A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love

By: Carole Radziwill

Narrated by: Carole Radziwill

A stunning, tragic memoir about John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and his cousin Anthony Radziwill, by Radziwill’s widow.

What Remains is a vivid and haunting memoir about a girl from a working-class town who becomes an award-winning television producer and marries a prince, Anthony Radziwill. Carole grew up in a small suburb with a large, eccentric cast of characters. At nineteen, she struck out for New York City to find a different life. Her career at ABC News led her to the refugee camps of Cambodia, to a bunker in Tel Aviv, and to the scene of the Menendez murders. Her marriage led her into the old world of European nobility and the newer world of American aristocracy.

What Remains begins with loss and returns to loss. A small plane plunges into the ocean carrying John F. Kennedy Jr., Anthony’s cousin, and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Carole’s closest friend. Three weeks later Anthony dies of cancer. With unflinching honesty and a journalist’s keen eye, Carole Radziwill explores the enduring ties of family, the complexities of marriage, the importance of friendship, and the challenges of self-invention. Beautifully written, What Remains “gets at the essence of what matters,” wrote Oprah Winfrey. “Friendship, compassion, destiny.”

Critic reviews

"Carole Radziwill, a wonderful writer who married into a famous family, gets at the essence of what matters - friendship, compassion, destiny- in her stunning new memoir, "What Remains."
--Oprah Winfrey

"Love and loss, family and friends, fate and fortune: these themes pervade this beautifully-written memoir. [A] courageous and compelling work."
--Library Journal

"What Remains is a riveting and heartbreaking journey beyond the fairy tale, told with the compassion of a friend and wife, and the searing eloquence of a gifted writer."
-- Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle

"Carole Radziwill has written an unsparing, unsentimental and inspiring memoir. A spirited journalist with a novelist's eye for detail, she delivers a stunningly honest story about life's great joys and deepest pain."
-- Christiane Amanpour CNN (Chief International Correspondent)

Absolutely beautiful

The only thing I wanted more was more of Carol speaking of their love. The stories brought me to tears multiple times.

So good, so heartfelt

This story is tragic in so many ways, but is told in a matter-of-fact, yet thoughtful and nostalgic tone. You wonder how anyone can deal with such loss, and the honesty of how Carole Radziwill dealt with it shows bravery in the midst of fear and doubt. And she’s so real about it all. She’s not the “wife of a prince” or she’s just a normal woman dealing with unimaginable loss.

A book of love and loss

Beautifully written by a young woman who begins her life with her husband with such promise. They become close friends with her husband's cousin and his lovely girlfriend,eventually his wife. All really good kind people who have it all. Three of their lives are taken all too soon. It can make you shed a tear or two, but we all know the story. There are many details we did not know.. These people are famous.The book is a wonderful tribute to Carolyn, John and Carol's husband Anthony.

Too much at once

We all go through lows in our lives, but to have so much at once is just unfair. Mrs. Radziwill handled it with so much grace. RIP Anthony, Lauren, Carolyn and John.

Touching Story.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This book is a personal insight to the struggle of life, love and loss. Raziwell is precise with her emotions. By the end of this book you feel more like family friend who was present for the situation.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes....bring tissue for the tears