Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Queen of Paris
Pamela Ewen
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Queen of Paris
Pamela Ewen
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Queen of Paris, by Pamela Ewen, is a novel about Coco Chanel. The story begins with Coco in Provence looking from her balcony at women collaborators having their heads shaved, standing naked in the square. It is 1944, the end of WWII. The author takes us to Cannes in 1941 when Coco is told by her managing director, Prudome, that the formula for her famous scent Chanel No 5 has been stolen by Pierre Werthheimer. She is devastated and must act at once and fight to protect her rights. Chanel No. 5 is a French company. She instructs Prudome to go to Grasse and purchase all the jasmine he can find. It’s an essential ingredient for No. 5 with seventy others, blended by a chemist.
Coco recalls her childhood when she scrubbed her hands raw while cleaning the floors of the abbey at Aubazine. She was an orphan; now she knows money is security. Her father had left her and her three sisters at the abbey.
In 1904, Coco was swept off her feet by Etienne, handsome and married. She had a luxurious life and then Boy Capel came along, an Englishman with grace, wit, and money. He was shrewd, ambitious, and single. He taught her about the constellations and myths, music, art and philosophy.
In the present, Prudome tells her all of the jasmine is in contracts. In her chauffeur–driven Rolls she stops to see Uri Basse at his perfumery and offers large amounts of money to buy all his absolute jasmine. He has promised it to Monsieur Wertheimer. She worries that Pierre will beat her with her own formula. He is building a plant in the U.S. in New Jersey.
The entrance to the Ritz Hotel in Paris is packed with people fleeing from the Germans. People are sprawled on the fine furniture, on the floor. Meanwhile, Alain Jobert needs help from Wertheimer’s banker, especially a new passport that will show he is not a Jew. It will be dangerous. The next morning, Coco instructs Prudome to wrap everything in Maison Chanel in straw, to lock it all in the storeroom, and close the grills. All must be secure before she leaves. Coco and her maid, Alyce, rush to the train with Evan, her loyal driver, who takes them to a back entrance at the station. They go to Bordeaux and then by taxi to the mountains where Catherine, her nephew Andre’s wife, greets them with open arms.
On June 14, 1940, Paris falls to the Germans. Alain meets with the banker who gives him new papers as a Swiss citizen and the contract for Maison Chanel for Pierre.
Coco leaves Andre’s home. He’s really her son but she has said he is her dead sister’s boy. He has been captured by the Germans and is ill in a camp where she intends to save him. Back in Paris she can stay at the Ritz in a different room and have her former table in the dining room. Alain crosses the border into Spain after several tense moments, with his passport and the formula well-hidden.
At the ambassador's residence, Coco attends a soiree. The ambassador introduces her to Horst van Eckert who she hopes will help Andre. She spies her old friend Spatz and they recall good times. Spatz takes her to her room and they make love. When he returns from Berlin, he moves into her apartment. She likes his company and decides to trust him. She tells him of her concern for Andre. He promises to help find him.
A week later she meets Horst van Eckert for dinner at her table at the Ritz. The waiter comes to them with a request from Herman Goring. He wants twenty bottles of her Chanel No. 5 and he wants them now. She goes to her Maison, unlocks the doors, and delivers the bottles to his suite. Horst tells her to agree and to smile at Goring, to survive at all costs. She tells Horst she was a young woman when she made and wore a little straw hat to the race track. All the women wanted one and she began making them. She moved to Paris and earned money. She then made clothes, classic designs, made to order.
When Spatz returns from Berlin, he tells her Goring and Gobels might take her business if she doesn’t go to Spain to spy for Germany. At first she says no, she will not betray her country. But her son Andre has T.B. and needs hospitalization. He may recover but she needs to do what the Germans want. She is to mingle with influential persons. Germany wants to join with Great Britain against Russia. She is to write reports every night. Coco has no choice if she wants Andre to be cared for. At the Hotel Ritz Madrid, she writes reports with names, dates, and conversations.
After her reports are delivered, Andre is transported to the American hospital outside of Paris. Coco is permitted to see him through a window in the door. He must stay in the hospital for months. Coco’s attorney tells her that Pierre has sold her company to an Aryan and she has no right to it. She demands a hearing and a chance to present all documents. The hearing is a sham. Coco’s case is stalled, as is Hitler at Stalingrad. It’s the coldest winter ever in Paris, Spatz is drinking steadily, Andre is sullen, and the joy in the Ritz Hotel is missing. Coco receives a note in the mail that says, “Traitor, we will come for you.” There is gun fire in the streets, Spatz is leaving for Berlin and wants her to come with him.
What happens to Coco Chanel after the war? Does Andre recover sufficiently? Is Coco taken by the Free French as a collaborator? Find out in this fascinating story based on facts at your Mendocino Community Library.
Coco recalls her childhood when she scrubbed her hands raw while cleaning the floors of the abbey at Aubazine. She was an orphan; now she knows money is security. Her father had left her and her three sisters at the abbey.
In 1904, Coco was swept off her feet by Etienne, handsome and married. She had a luxurious life and then Boy Capel came along, an Englishman with grace, wit, and money. He was shrewd, ambitious, and single. He taught her about the constellations and myths, music, art and philosophy.
In the present, Prudome tells her all of the jasmine is in contracts. In her chauffeur–driven Rolls she stops to see Uri Basse at his perfumery and offers large amounts of money to buy all his absolute jasmine. He has promised it to Monsieur Wertheimer. She worries that Pierre will beat her with her own formula. He is building a plant in the U.S. in New Jersey.
The entrance to the Ritz Hotel in Paris is packed with people fleeing from the Germans. People are sprawled on the fine furniture, on the floor. Meanwhile, Alain Jobert needs help from Wertheimer’s banker, especially a new passport that will show he is not a Jew. It will be dangerous. The next morning, Coco instructs Prudome to wrap everything in Maison Chanel in straw, to lock it all in the storeroom, and close the grills. All must be secure before she leaves. Coco and her maid, Alyce, rush to the train with Evan, her loyal driver, who takes them to a back entrance at the station. They go to Bordeaux and then by taxi to the mountains where Catherine, her nephew Andre’s wife, greets them with open arms.
On June 14, 1940, Paris falls to the Germans. Alain meets with the banker who gives him new papers as a Swiss citizen and the contract for Maison Chanel for Pierre.
Coco leaves Andre’s home. He’s really her son but she has said he is her dead sister’s boy. He has been captured by the Germans and is ill in a camp where she intends to save him. Back in Paris she can stay at the Ritz in a different room and have her former table in the dining room. Alain crosses the border into Spain after several tense moments, with his passport and the formula well-hidden.
At the ambassador's residence, Coco attends a soiree. The ambassador introduces her to Horst van Eckert who she hopes will help Andre. She spies her old friend Spatz and they recall good times. Spatz takes her to her room and they make love. When he returns from Berlin, he moves into her apartment. She likes his company and decides to trust him. She tells him of her concern for Andre. He promises to help find him.
A week later she meets Horst van Eckert for dinner at her table at the Ritz. The waiter comes to them with a request from Herman Goring. He wants twenty bottles of her Chanel No. 5 and he wants them now. She goes to her Maison, unlocks the doors, and delivers the bottles to his suite. Horst tells her to agree and to smile at Goring, to survive at all costs. She tells Horst she was a young woman when she made and wore a little straw hat to the race track. All the women wanted one and she began making them. She moved to Paris and earned money. She then made clothes, classic designs, made to order.
When Spatz returns from Berlin, he tells her Goring and Gobels might take her business if she doesn’t go to Spain to spy for Germany. At first she says no, she will not betray her country. But her son Andre has T.B. and needs hospitalization. He may recover but she needs to do what the Germans want. She is to mingle with influential persons. Germany wants to join with Great Britain against Russia. She is to write reports every night. Coco has no choice if she wants Andre to be cared for. At the Hotel Ritz Madrid, she writes reports with names, dates, and conversations.
After her reports are delivered, Andre is transported to the American hospital outside of Paris. Coco is permitted to see him through a window in the door. He must stay in the hospital for months. Coco’s attorney tells her that Pierre has sold her company to an Aryan and she has no right to it. She demands a hearing and a chance to present all documents. The hearing is a sham. Coco’s case is stalled, as is Hitler at Stalingrad. It’s the coldest winter ever in Paris, Spatz is drinking steadily, Andre is sullen, and the joy in the Ritz Hotel is missing. Coco receives a note in the mail that says, “Traitor, we will come for you.” There is gun fire in the streets, Spatz is leaving for Berlin and wants her to come with him.
What happens to Coco Chanel after the war? Does Andre recover sufficiently? Is Coco taken by the Free French as a collaborator? Find out in this fascinating story based on facts at your Mendocino Community Library.