Hal Vaughan
2011
By now I hope you know that Meg is the funny one if this book/blog relationship and that I am the historical one. It’s a characteristic to my character in this novel called life….. apparently I am also very dramatic. Do you know who is also dramatic … COCO CHANEL is DRAAAAMATIC.
In Hal Vaughan’s book Sleeping with the Enemy he outlines just how dramatic Coco Chanel was and that drama is NAZIS. Yes, World War Two (The Great War the Sequel) Nazis. Hitler Nazis. Apparently Coco Chanel was an anti-Semite and extremely supportive of the National Socialist Party and the down with communist vibe it had. So supportive that she let them into her bedroom, no not Hitler but a hansom Nazi spy (drama) named Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage. The book supports how Coco Chanel may have been a spy for the Nazi Party, and when France was liberated only narrowly missed execution thanks to her dear pal, the ever so dreamy, Winston Churchill.
This is the plot and the drive of the book, to uncover this secret (and not so secret) world of Coco Chanel. However this is a hefty 300 + page book that includes not only the Nazi drama but also the entirety of Coco Chanel’s rise to fame and glory. I am not one who is typically interested in fashion but being that she was a historical figure I was intrigued. I learned that Coco loved men and that men loved Coco. I learned a few flirting tips. I learned a plethora of the who's who of the 1920's through to the 1940’s. I learned that Coco had a hard life, and a sad life, one where she needed to be loved to feel independent and needed to be loved to feel alive. I learned that she may have had relationships with women and that she developed a serious drug habit near the end of her life. I learned that I pitied Coco. I learned about fashion.
This book was suggested to me by a friend who loves fashion and while I feared those bits would be dull, the fact that the author includes photos (that do not interfere with the story) of some of the clothes he is talking about and chooses well known and revolutionary pieces (like the little black dress and its history) I actually found myself enjoying or at least tolerating the fashion excerpts. However it was the DRAMA and historical tid bits (Churchill in a bathing suit people!) that won me over.
The timing of this book just couldn't be better, starting in the roaring 20s, arching into WWII and ending in a Cold War World. Chanel is one of those names that most people know, yet not a lot of people know about her; her life or anything other than the fashion house. I am glad that I have rectified my ignorance. I didn’t find myself staying up until all hours to read just one more chapter but I found it to be an interesting leisurely read and I will most definitely be introducing this book into my dinner party conversation (drama people, draaaaaaama) for that I award this 3 ½ lightening bolts out of 5.
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