Hello Bookish Friends,
Today I a have a wonderful book review,
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The Queen of Paris
A Novel of Coco Chanel, by Pamela Binnings Ewen
Taken from Authors website
Taken from Authors website
Synopsis from Goodreads
Legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel is revered for her sophisticated style–the iconic little black dress–and famed for her intoxicating perfume Chanel No. 5. Yet behind the public persona is a complicated woman of intrigue, shadowed by mysterious rumors. The Queen of Paris, the new novel from award-winning author Pamela Binnings Ewen, vividly imagines the hidden life of Chanel during the four years of Nazi occupation in Paris in the midst of WWII–as discovered in recently unearthed wartime files.
Coco Chanel could be cheerful, lighthearted, and generous; she also could be ruthless, manipulative, even cruel. Against the winds of war, with the Wehrmacht marching down the Champs-Élysées, Chanel finds herself residing alongside the Reich’s High Command in the Hotel Ritz. Surrounded by the enemy, Chanel wages a private war of her own to wrestle full control of her perfume company from the hands of her Jewish business partner, Pierre Wertheimer. With anti-Semitism on the rise, he has escaped to the United States with the confidential formula for Chanel No. 5. Distrustful of his intentions to set up production on the outskirts of New York City, Chanel fights to seize ownership. The House of Chanel shall not fall.
While Chanel struggles to keep her livelihood intact, Paris sinks under the iron fist of German rule. Chanel–a woman made of sparkling granite–will do anything to survive. She will even agree to collaborate with the Nazis in order to protect her darkest secrets. When she is covertly recruited by Germany to spy for the Reich, she becomes Agent F-7124, code name: Westminster. But why? And to what lengths will she go to keep her stormy past from haunting her future?
“Through meticulous research, Ewen vividly brings the enigmatic Coco Chanel back to life. The Queen of Paris is multilayered and compelling, the characters lingering, like the delicate scent of Chanel No. 5, long after the final page.”
-Sonia Velton, author of Blackberry and Wild Rose
“Pamela Binnings Ewen has managed the rare feat of mixing history, biography, and fiction as she deftly explores the events that shaped Coco Chanel’s life. The Queen of Paris brings Paris alive during World War II with exacting and fascinating details as Ewen explores the constantly evolving complexity of Chanel’s enigmatic character. The Queen of Paris is the most engrossing novel I’ve read all year. I loved this book. I wish I had written it.”
-Bev Marshall, author of Right as Rain, Hot Fudge Sundae Blues, Walking through Shadows, and Back Home
This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.
Legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel is revered for her sophisticated style–the iconic little black dress–and famed for her intoxicating perfume Chanel No. 5. Yet behind the public persona is a complicated woman of intrigue, shadowed by mysterious rumors. The Queen of Paris, the new novel from award-winning author Pamela Binnings Ewen, vividly imagines the hidden life of Chanel during the four years of Nazi occupation in Paris in the midst of WWII–as discovered in recently unearthed wartime files.
The Queen of Paris by Pamela Binnings Ewe, is one stunning historical fiction.
Bringing the harsh realities of living in German occupied France. Like so many people during WW2, The lines of each individual situation was different. Black and white of moral and social issues blurred causing the grey to over flow.
This a thought provoking novel, of the iconic Coco Chanel, born Gabrielle Bonheur.
Pamela Binnings Ewe, writing captures the incredible Coco as she is living at the Paris’s Hotel Ritz in the spring of 1940, during the German occupation. Coco is approched by a commanding officer of the Reich’s to become a spy. Seeing this as an opportunity to finally take back control of her company. Her motivations for being a collaborator and somewhat ruthless way of rising above to success.
This was a fast me, I flipped the pages, taking in Pamela Binnings Ewen wonderful absorbing story. Meticulously researched The Queen Of Paris, is an excellent historical fiction, with riveting atmospheric details.
Thanks to #BlackstonePublishing and #netgalley for the opportunity to read and review #thequeenofparis
Pub. Date 4/7/2020
Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and for allowing me to read and review this wonderful book
You can order your copy here through Pamela’s website.
Happy reading Booklings!
Gwendalyn’s Books 
no where do i read that her nephew was really her son. Is this just poetic license?
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