THE SECRET OF CHANEL NO. 5 The Most Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, born in 1883, grew up in an obscure French convent, where she learned the skill of fine sewing. Starting her adult life as a Paris cabaret singer admitted her to the bedrooms of rich men, who financed her beginnings in the fashion business. Her signature product became Chanel No. 5, a fragrance still popular 90 years after its introduction. Although the audiobook offers no way to smell the scent, narrator Liz de Nesnera’s native French transports listeners to the origin of the eponymous brand and the country in which Coco blossomed. De Nesnera’s voice gives a delicacy to the story, a proper touch to a woman who began with few options and became one of the richest women of the twentieth century. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2010]