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Book 2 of 2020 - The Queens of Paris: A Novel of Coco Chanel


Author: Pamela Binnings Ewen

Publication Date: April 7, 2020

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Format: Kindlebook - ARC provided courtesy of Netgalley

Started: Dec. 31, 2019

Finished: Jan. 3, 2020


This story follows the new trend in historical fiction of looking into the life of female collaborators - those who worked with or were kept safe by the Nazis. This book was slow-moving until Coco begins to work with the Nazis to save her business and her son.


I felt the story behind Chanel No. 5 was far too long and detailed and Coco's trip for jasmine absolutely had no point in the story and added nothing to the plot. This would have been a better story if about 100 pages were removed.


This novel plays with the recently discovered knowledge that Coco Chanel worked with the Nazi party to save her business and have her nephew released from jail in return for her cooperation. She was outed as a Nazi spy in 1944. Chanel was never held responsible for her actions and went on to great success.




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