Published by William Morrow in 1976, it is a roman à clef based on the life of Jacqueline Kennedy.

Finally, Dolores agrees to marry a fabulously wealthy shipping tycoon, who leaves her on their wedding night to go to his mistress.

[3] Certain details were changed in the book (for example, in the original story, Dolores's husband, Jimmy Ryan, is felled by a heart attack, not by an assassin's bullet).

Rumors that film critic (and friend of Susann) Rex Reed rewrote the work are unsubstantiated.

"[4] The reading public nonetheless embraced the book: the hardcover spent 25 weeks on the New York Times best seller list, peaking at #2 for seven consecutive weeks,[5] and becoming the third highest-selling novel of 1976, behind Leon Uris's Trinity and Agatha Christie's final mystery, Sleeping Murder.