My Father's Daughter: A Memoir

For Sinatra fans, 2000 was a very good year. First came the discography Put Your Dreams Away; then, the newsy exposé of the Chairman's FBI dossier, The Sinatra Files; and now, his life story as seen by his younger daughter Tina. Besides inside family stuff, Tina knows about Frank's life from having produced the CBS miniseries about him. The most publicized item in the book concerns Frank's kind words with the Mafia on behalf of JFK's campaign. But, beware the common belief that the Mafia stole the election for JFK--this is dubious--and don't miss out on all of the more interesting stories in the book. There's irony: JFK personally persuaded United Artists to make Sinatra's best film, that classic of Presidential-assassination conspiracy, The Manchurian Candidate. There's squalor: Before the Mafia helped him through his career slump, Frank walked past an Eddie Fisher movie marquee and promptly attempted suicide. There's poignance: "I'm not home much, but I'm a pretty damned good father," Frank unconvincingly claimed. Nancy Barbato Sinatra--the mother of Tina, Nancy, and Frank Jr.--comes off as saintly. Ava Gardner was nice to the kids, but a comparably neurotic brawler with Frank. Mia Farrow, Tina's schoolmate, was delightful, inclined to intense relationships with father figures (Salvador Dalì, Yul Brynner), eccentric, and not as frail and malleable as she looked and Frank probably hoped: "She was just as career-driven as Ava, and probably more independent," writes Tina. "Mia was more of a day person, while the only dawns my father saw were on the back end of a hard day's night." Barbara Marx Sinatra, according to embittered Tina, made Frank's last 12 years a living hell. (Barbara has declined to comment on Tina's charges.)

In straightforward prose that's studded with interesting facts (did you know Frank would tip $200 if you parked his car?) and 86 photos, Tina Sinatra paints a lively portrait of her inconsolably lonely pop-star pop. And she did it her way. Deal with it. --Tim Appelo