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For readers of The Paris Wife and Z comes this vivid novel full of drama, passion, tragedy, and beauty that stunningly imagines the life of iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel—the ambitious, gifted laundrywoman’s daughter who revolutionized fashion, built an international empire, and become one of the most influential and controversial figures of the twentieth century.Born into rural poverty, Gabrielle Chanel and her siblings are sent to orphanage after their mother’s death. The sisters nurture Gabrielle’s exceptional sewing skills, a talent that will propel the willful young woman into a life far removed from the drudgery of her childhood.Transforming herself into Coco—a seamstress and sometime torch singer—the petite brunette burns with ambition, an incandescence that draws a wealthy gentleman who will become the love of her life. She immerses herself in his world of money and luxury, discovering a freedom that sparks her creativity. But it is only when her lover takes her to Paris that Coco discovers her destiny.Rejecting the frilly, corseted silhouette of the past, her sleek, minimalist styles reflect the youthful ease and confidence of the 1920s modern woman. As Coco’s reputation spreads, her couturier business explodes, taking her into rarefied society circles and bohemian salons. But her fame and fortune cannot save her from heartbreak as the years pass. And when Paris falls to the Nazis, Coco is forced to make choices that will haunt her.An enthralling novel of an extraordinary woman who created the life she desired, Mademoiselle Chanel explores the inner world of a woman of staggering ambition whose strength, passion and artistic vision would become her trademark. Read more
Publisher : William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication date : December 29, 2015
Edition : Reprint
Language : English
Print length : 432 pages
ISBN-10 : 0062356437
ISBN-13 : 37
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 1.3 x 5.4 x 8.1 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #820,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #564 in Biographical Historical Fiction #626 in Biographical & Autofiction #678 in Cultural Heritage Fiction
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Hardcover
Famous artists frequently refuse to be defined, classified, or placed in society’s tidy box of approval. Coco Chanel, renowned designer of classic clothing, accessories and perfume, is an enigmatic delight as depicted in this novel by perceptive and sensitive historical novelist, C. W. Gortner. Gabrielle’s parents are deeply in love but her paternal grandmother rejects Gabrielle’s mother. Her mother in turn loves her daughter but says she is unable to live with her. So searching and yearning for love followed by rejection seems to be a pattern that Gabrielle will follow until she meets the true love of her love, Arthur Capel or “Boy,” a relationship that is treasured because with it comes respect and treatment as an equal, competent professional woman. The latter trait is not one encouraged in pre-WWII France but Gabrielle’s relationships yield financial and emotional freedom on her own terms. Thus begins an astonishing career in which Gabrielle begins her first shop where she is allowed to design everything but dresses. Her styles, like the change in her name, jettison her into fame as a designer who isn’t afraid to risk her business for what she believes. Cocoa often stated that women should dress elegantly, simply, sleekly, with some low-keyed jewelry or scarf accessories. These were memorialized in the Chanel black suit, the sexy but simple black dress, and the famous Chanel No. 5 perfume that has solidly sold from its creation to the present. Coco’s career conflicts and troubles are intimately described herein, some of which she handled with creative ideas and some which she lost and mourned. Competition was fierce and even some of her own colleagues and workers tried to bring about her demise, literally by law and figuratively through slander. Although Coco was judged and demeaned as a Nazi collaborator, Gortner depicts her connection to the Nazi’s with a higher purpose and mysterious misunderstanding in covert circumstances that force the reader to suspend judgment. The artist manages a comeback even after years of exile in Switzerland. While other writers have published their own books about Coco Chanel, C. W. Gortner has written a masterful portrait that is engaging and intriguing on every page celebrating Chanel’s intelligent, creative and beautiful clothing. This reader was truly sad at the ending of this novel, an ending that mourns the passing of a passionate, brilliant, talented and incomparable woman. Delightful historical fiction and so, so highly recommended!
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Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2015 by Viviane Crystal
Format: Kindle
I've watched two different movies about Coco now. I've had the same complaint about each one.... They show us her childhood quickly--her growing up an orphan in a nunnery, her talent for sewing increasing each day. Then we'll see her singing in a bar, sewing for a cheap shrew nearly in exchange for room and board. Then it introduces us to her first lover, the wealthy horseman, who let her make hats in his home and introduced her to her second lover, Boy. And Boy comes and sweeps her off her feet and then...he dies. And perhaps the movie will show Coco designing a line of clothes after that and yet, that's it. The movie, and with it, her story, ends. As if that was all there was to Coco--her love with Boy, her loss of him, and oh, a few clothes. There was so much more to Coco and C.W. Gortner shows us that. He goes far beyond the death of Boy. When Boy passes on, it's only halfway through the novel, that's how much Gortner gives us of Coco, the woman, the designer, the lover, the spy. We see her as a daughter, then an orphan who loves to read and sew and feels slighted by her remaining family members, abandoned. Then we live with Coco as young woman working for a pittance, singing, debating whether she wants to take a lover or not. Lover Coco wonders why she doesn't feel the way others do. Marriage and children do not appeal. She wants to be independent and she makes this happen through persistence and hard work. We love Boy with her and feel her frustration at the things he does. We travel all over France with her as she renovates houses and designs clothes, introduces the little black dress, battles over a perfume contract, mourns, takes lovers. We go the ballet with her, get to know her sisters--who pines for marriage, who has a baby out of wedlock--and her friends--artist types and drug addicts. The writing is terrific, though there are a few spots that are more telling than showing, almost info dumps, almost but not quite. And if my mind began to stray at times, the next page would hook me once again. Most fascinating of all--and I applaud Gortner for tackling this--we finally see Coco the "spy" during WWII. Was she really a spy or was all she did for the sake of survival? Was she an unwitting accomplice? Did she care about her nephew so very much? Should we shun her for having taken a German lover? Taking a lover doesn't make one a spy... Everyone will make their own conclusions. Me, I liked Gortner's take on the rumor. I didn't always like WWII Coco, I won't lie. But it all makes sense when you put together the rumors and Gortner's story. There were many sides to Coco, as there is to all women. I appreciated her drive, her independence, her ability to shun society. I didn't like how she handled her perfume contract (it was your idea, you signed it, you can't change it now), nor did I care for her WWII persona (you've barely paid attention to your nephew), but I related to her (especially the motherhood debate) and she came alive for me in this novel. I also really really enjoyed the history behind No. 5. Mr. Gortner, excellent job. I can't wait to see what strong woman in history you decide to write about next.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2015 by Tara
Format: Kindle
Mademoiselle Chanel: A Novel Unveiling an icon of fashion to depict her inner life of conflict and passion while remaining true to her biography is a difficult task. Yet C. W. Gortner has managed to accomplish it with skill and empathy. Carefully shifting through the facts of the life of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, Gortner creates scene after scene of compelling drama to reveal a complex woman. Told in the first person, his fictionalized account is both a tribute to the drive and independence of a pioneering woman at the forefront of social change as well as to her vulnerable sensitivities. Gortner brings us face to face with the men Coco must depend on to achieve success, while maintaining her sense of pride and fierce self sufficiency. It becomes the ultimate irony and conflict in the book and in her life: the needy, independent woman. Having endured the global calamities of the 20th century, Coco Chanel, through Gortner’s eyes, emerges as a sympathetic survivor. We see the way she clings to fragments of stability in her chaotic life, set in motion from birth. One of the most powerful images in the book is the Aubazine stone pathway patterned with the five-pointed symbols from the convent orphanage of her childhood that Coco later replicates in the mansion she builds, La Pausa. Hers was, indeed, a rugged path, a life of almost non-stop crisis, during a time when women who defied social conventions required tremendous spirit to break free. Living on the margins of society, it is not surprising that her circle of intimate friends was an odd mixture of a range of persuasions. Gortner invites us to meet them all, as Coco did, as her cherished friends, no matter their politics or social class. In the end, Gorton reveals the living character of Coco Chanel as a woman with a supreme commitment to creativity and design in fashion—based on hard work, drive, and an unswerving conviction of what is best for women. That Coco admittedly compromised her own morals to reach her goals is a theme throughout the book. By letting us learn Coco’s reasoning each time, Gortner lets us decide to judge or accept. An iconic woman written in the round, this is must read for those who love women’s history and modern fashion.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2015 by Kate Farrell
Format: Hardcover
I have to admit to a certain amount of ignorance about Coco Chanel -- other than the fact that i've coveted her iconic fragrances and make up since I was old enough to browse the aisles of Saks and Bloomingdale's. Knowing how Gortner's previous novels have grabbed me and sucked me in, i had every reasonable belief that Mademoiselle Chanel would do the same. I was not disappointed. In the classic rags-to-riches story of this fashion legend (who, in fact, is more legendary than Chanel?), I became part of the story of a young, dispossessed child who, from the start, learned to be disappointed in men. If Gortner made this all up, it would be unbelievable -- but he didn't. We watch this young, independent seamstress become a rising star, building her empire from scratch (with a little help from benefactors), having the vision to see a woman's world through a classical, sophisticated, yet interestingly low-key style. Gortner's description of Chanel's battles with the likes of the over-the-top Schiaparelli were, for me, a microcosm of Chanel's life. Again, pleading ignorance here, I had no idea that Chanel was implicated as a spy during WWII and frankly, coming to know a little of what formed her inner being from Gortner, i don't buy it. I suppose that is for the ages. That she left her beloved Paris for Switzerland after Vichy fell and the French who remained behind during the German occupation were stigmatized and prosecuted is a testament to her courage in reinventing herself -- as she did time and again during the course of her long life. This is a well-researched, deeply felt biographical novel. Although i'm not a fashion maven, Gortner's insights and his desire to create an accessible, reachable Coco -- a Coco who was not always accessible even to those she loved and who loved her -- is a testament to his talent as a writer. Beautifully written, very much in the moment, this is a first-class piece of historical fiction.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2015 by Ilysa M. Magnus
Format: Kindle
I loved the story and the way it presented the history of the era. The beginning of Ms Chanel's life and the many twists and turns to reaching the pinnacle made for an engrossing tale. I learned things about France and about fashion. While I loved the book, I wasn't so enamored of Ms Chanel. It was a great read and a good book for discussion. I read it shortly after reading The Nightingale and realized how differently people in close proximity endured the hardships of war. The main characters in both novels were French women. The Nightingale focused on WW II while Mademoiselle Chanel covered a greater period of time but did include her life during the war. The part of the book that dealt with her life during the war was less believable than the story of her life. She was a driven woman whose focus was money, success and acceptance by people of wealth and power. During the war her focus changed to trying to save a nephew she had abandoned to British boarding schools, not really in character or believable except as a way to excuse her collaboration with the Germans. Definitely worth reading.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2016 by MRP
Format: Kindle
Story of Chanel put together in a nicely written book. Even though i was not that fascinated by the book, nevertheless this woman's journey to success, from the poor streets of Brive-la-Gaillarde to the Aubazine orphanage and to the heart of Paris' most fashionable districts, is worth reading. She undoubtedly lived a turbulent life always acting on her own mind and as she always said "The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud."
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Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2019 by marina michaelidou
Format: Kindle
Everything about this book works; the setting, "narration," character development...nothing was left to chance. I read about 50 books each year and this novel is hands down, the best historical fiction I've read. I'm drawn to novels about this time period but so often they're about love lost during the wars or displaced families and lost wealth. I stay as far as I can from romance and chick lit but this book deals overwhelmingly with female characters and complicated relationships but never degenerates into sappy descriptions. In addition to a tightly written story, Gortner manages to drop the reader into the setting by his descriptions of smells. I could almost smell Coco relentless cigarettes and her perfume and hear the waves while she vacationed. The description of the German military office and French police station were indeed chilling. Even her outbursts of anger seemed to place the reader in the scene. One of my most prized possessions is a red Chanel bag I purchased 26 years ago...knowing the "history" behind it makes it that much more special. BTW: this would be a perfect book club selection...gripping story and little if anything, to offend anyone!
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Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2017 by Pushing 70
Format: Hardcover
I adored this book. Coco Chanel was a complicated woman who it is not always easy for us to like, but Gortner captures her with an adeptness that gives us a complete picture of both the woman and the legend. His language is beautifully elegant in a way that perfectly suits his subject - sleek and sublime. Not many writers could find the right voice for Chanel, but he nailed it. Chanel had an inner strength that was laudable, but we do tend to prickle when we think about some of her behavior during WWII. Nonetheless, I can't say I found her unlikeable - probably because Gortner makes it so we can understand her actions, even when they make us cringe. To me, the very qualities people want to criticize her for having (or at least those they view as rendering her unlikeable) are the same qualities that made her capable of being the force she was. People are complicated, and the traits that lead to success and the ability to have a profound cultural influence on the world can prove to be liabilities in other situations. Gortner has tackled a difficult subject, one about whom many people have strong opinions. His careful attention to research is evident on every page of this book, which means readers can trust that he is giving them the full picture, even when that means not shying away from uncomfortable facts. A brilliantly written book that is a true delight to read.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2015 by book_junkie35