THE QUEEN OF PARIS A Novel of Coco Chanel

In a lilting voice, Gabrielle de Cuir performs this fascinating fictional memoir of Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971). She primarily looks back upon her actions during WWII, along with flashbacks that take place from 1903 through the 1920s. As de Cuir narrates in a flowing style, Chanel describes her life as couturière, perfumer, and then Nazi spy and collaborator while living with her friend and protector, Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage, at the Hotel Ritz in Paris, the Reich's High Command headquarters. De Cuir incorporates few accents, allowing the listener to focus on Chanel's unwavering drive to wrest control over her signature perfume, No. 5, from her Jewish business partner by using the Nuremberg laws. De Cuir's unbroken narration flows smoothly over jarring anti-Semitic slurs interlaced with Chanel's favorable comments on Aryans. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2020]