Tag: history

#BookReview Chanel’s Riviera by Anne de Courcy #NonficNov

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Chanels RivieraAbout the Book

Far from worrying about the onset of war, the burning question on the French Riviera in 1938 was whether one should curtsey to the Duchess of Windsor.

Featuring a sparkling cast of historical figures, writers and artists including Winston Churchill, Daisy Fellowes, Salvador Dalí, the Windsors, Aldous Huxley and Edith Wharton – and the enigmatic Coco Chanel at its heart – Chanel’s Riviera is a sparkling account of a period where such deep extremes of luxury and terror had never before been experienced.

From the glamour of the pre-war parties and casinos, to Robert Streitz’s secret wireless transmitter in the basement of La Pausa – Chanel’s villa that he created – while Chanel had her German lover to stay during the war, Chanel’s Riviera explores the fascinating world of the Cote d’Azur elite in the 1930s and 1940s, enriched with original research that brings the lives of both rich and poor, protected and persecuted, to vivid life.

Format: Audiobook                            Publisher: Orion
Publication date: 13th June 2019  Genre: History, Nonfiction

Find Chanel’s Riviera:  Peace and War on The Côte d’Azur, 1930 – 1944 on Goodreads

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

My Review

When I heard Anne de Courcy talk about her book at Henley Literary Festival last month (read my full review of the event here) she described Chanel’s Riviera as a ‘biography of the Riviera’. I think that’s a fair description because readers expecting the majority of the book to be about Chanel may be disappointed. Yes, Chanel does feature a lot but in sections of the book she is either on the periphery or absent entirely. For example, she spent periods during the war in Paris rather than on the Riviera.

What the book does well is conjure up the glamour and hedonism of life on the Riviera for the rich and famous before the war. The author describes how it became a haven for writers and artists like Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, H G Wells and Jean Cocteau, as well as society figures such as Winston Churchill and, later, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

The mood changes suddenly following the outbreak of war. The book depicts the arrival of refugees from Northern Europe, including Jews fleeing persecution, and the food shortages that followed the fall of France in 1940 as supplies were diverted to Germany. Life for many living on the Cote d’Azur became really tough and the author uses material from diaries and contemporary sources to tell the harrowing stories of individuals.

Other than her reputation as a designer, I knew very little about Chanel’s life before reading this book. It was interesting to learn of her rise from humble beginnings to doyenne of the fashion world. However, I can’t say everything I learned made me warm to Chanel as a person. For instance, I was shocked to learn of her anti-Semitic views.

In the book the author addresses claims that Chanel collaborated with the Nazis. For example, she suggests Chanel’s taking of a senior German officer as a lover was principally aimed at trying to gain the release of her nephew who was being held as a prisoner of war by the Germans. However I found myself wondering if ‘the will to survive’ was sufficient justification for some of Chanel’s actions.

As the author recounts, partly what kept Chanel free from the retaliation meted out to others accused of collaboration was the reopening of her Paris store following its liberation in 1944 and the offer of a free bottle of her iconic perfume for every US soldier to take home to their wife or sweetheart. That and being able to produce papers demonstrating her friendship with Winston Churchill.

Chanel’s Riviera is clearly the product of extensive research. For me, the most interesting element of the book was seeing the impact of the Second World War on an area of France which had hitherto been the playground of the rich and famous.

I listened to the audio book version narrated by Sophie Roberts. Chanel’s Riviera is also available in hardcover and as an ebook.

contributor-anne-de-courcyAbout the Author

Anne de Courcy is the author of thirteen widely acclaimed works of social history and biography, including The Husband Hunters, The Fishing Fleet, The Viceroy’s Daughters and Debs At War.

In the 1970s she was Woman’s Editor on the London Evening News and in the 1980s she was a regular feature-writer for the Evening Standard. She is also a former features writer and reviewer for the Daily Mail.  She lives in London SW3. (Photo credit: Publisher author page)

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#BookReview Untitled: The Real Wallis Simpson by Anna Pasternak

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UntitledAbout the Book

Who was the real Wallis: an opportunistic American social climber, a master manipulator or the true love of Edward’s life? Amid the cacophony of condemnation her story has become obfuscated. Untitled is an intimate biography of one of the most misunderstood women in British royal history.

His charisma and glamour ensured him the status of a rock star prince. Yet Edward gave up the British throne, the British Empire and his position as Emperor of India, to marry his true love, American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

So much gossip and innuendo has been levelled at Wallis Simpson that it has become nearly impossible to discern the real woman. Many have wondered why, when Edward could have had anyone he desired, he was smitten with this unusual American woman. As her friend Herman Rogers said to her in 1936 when news of her affair with Edward broke: ‘Much of what is being said concerns a woman who does not exist and never did exist.’

History is mostly perceived from the perspective of his-story. But what about her story? Anna Pasternak’s new book is the first ever to give Wallis a chance and a voice to show that she was a warm, loyal, intelligent woman adored by her friends, who was written off by cunning, influential Establishment men seeking to diminish her and destroy her reputation. As the author argues, far from being the villain of the abdication, she was the victim.

Anna Pasternak is appearing at Henley Literary Festival 2019

Format: e-book (369 pp.)    Publisher: William Collins
Published: 7th March 2019   Genre: Biography, History, Nonfiction

Purchase Links*
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Find Untitled: The Real Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor on Goodreads

My Review

Anna Pasternak nails her colours pretty unashamedly to the mast when she talks about the book being fuelled by a desire to rehabilitate Wallis in history. Untitled paints the Duchess of Windsor in a positive light, putting forward her side of the story and attempting to quash some, if not all, of the accusations that have been levelled at her. The list of sources and references at the back of the book demonstrate the detailed research undertaken by the author.

I was surprised to learn of the extremes to which the government went in their opposition to the relationship between Edward and Wallis Simpson, including listening in to their private telephone conversations.

However, I was left with a picture of two people so wrapped up in each other that the impact of their actions on others ceased to matter or just simply did not occur to them. At times, the behaviour of Wallis and Edward was either naive or bordered on the crass and their lavish lifestyle was far removed from the experience of the majority of Edward’s subjects. However, no-one with any feelings would surely wish for them the sadness of their final years – declining health, exile and manipulation by others.

Untitled is also the story of a family torn apart by a decision regarded variously as an act of selfishness, betrayal and a failure of duty. The author depicts how the refusal by his mother, Queen Mary, to receive Wallis or even acknowledge her and the decision not to grant the Duchess HRH status became totemic issues for Edward, creating a rift in the Royal Family that was never repaired in his lifetime.

In the Afterword, the author observes that she found herself warming to Edward during the process of researching and writing the book. I’m afraid this reader had the opposite experience. If anything, Edward comes out diminished to my mind. His blind devotion to Wallis is touching but tainted by his seemingly single-minded belief that he should have whatever he wanted in life, regardless of the consequences. As the author observes, ‘His love for Wallis was as selfish and as crucial to his survival as a child’s; it would have been the more loving act to have relinquished her‘.

As for Wallis? I think the author sums it up when she comments, ‘She [Wallis] was powerful – in her effect on Edward – but powerless, in her inability to prevent events from spiralling out of control’.

I received a review copy courtesy of William Collins via NetGalley.

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In three words: Fascinating, detailed, intimate

Try something similar…Chanel’s Riviera: The Cote d’Azur in Peace and War, 1930 – 1944 by Anne de Courcy

About the Author

Anna Pasternak is an author, columnist and journalist. She writes regularly for Sunday Times Style, Conde Nast Traveller, Harper’s Bazaar, and others. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and daughter.