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)

beautiful

A beautiful story of love and eventual loss. My heart goes out to Carol and all the loved ones of Anthony, John, Carolyn and Lauren.

Beautifully written

What a gift to all of us - thank you Carole for letting us get to know people in a respectful yet touching way - your writing is beautiful

What Remains

I couldn’t have been more pleased that Carole read this herself. She has such a soothing demeanor and I could place her in the scenes. I finished listening in one day.

Amazing

This was a beautifully written fairy story made absolutely real and heartbreaking. I loved it.

maddie

absolutely wonderful!! it was touching, emotional, therapeutic and candid. good job Carole! I hope you have found happiness, joy and peace in your life after losing so much so quickly- you are an excellent writer!!