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Title: Mademoiselle Chanel

Author: C. W. Gortner

Narrator: Rebecca Gibel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-17-15

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 286 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

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 became one of the most influential and controversial figures of the twentieth century.

Born into rural poverty, Gabrielle Chanel and her siblings are sent to an 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 trademarks.

Members Reviews:

Fiction Not Biography

I love a good biography and was so pleased when I found this title about Coco Chanel. I started listening and realized too late that I had made a mistake--this was not a biography. It is instead a fictionalized novel based on the life of Chanel. The story felt overly romanticized and too clean and neat to be the actual telling of a real life. I was left wondering--as I tried to progress with the book--what was true and what was fiction.

I am trying not to review books that I hate and award only one or two stars because it seems so negative and not always helpful. However, in this case I thought it best to point out that this is a work of fiction. To me, reality, history and facts all matter a great deal. What's more, truth is often far more engaging and compelling than fiction. So, if you are looking for the "real" Coco Chanel I would keep searching. Can't recommend.

Felt too much like chick-lit for my liking

Overall, I can't say I was very excited by Mademoiselle Chanel: A Novel. Unlike another reviewer, I was indeed entirely clear when I got this book that it was a work of fiction and could expect plenty of free interpretation, but there could have been many ways to tell her story without making it sound like a Hollywood Romance. Only taking part in France, with French people, who are presumably speaking French to each other. I bring that part up because I am not American and found it very difficult to get into the spirit of things with a narrator who was so emphatically American in her delivery that it made the whole thing slightly surreal to me.

I think in retrospect I would have been better served with a straight biography of Gabrielle aka Coco Chanel.