You've all heard of Coco Chanel, the famous fashion designer? Well this is the story of her amorous relationship with the composer Igor Stravinsky. Over the summer of 1913 she puts up the Stravinksy's in her beautiful estate in Grasse and brings an expected level of chaos into their lives.

Having know little of Chanel but her clothes before picking up this gem of a novel I was surprised to learn of her complicated life. After all a bastard orphan up-starter isn't exactly what I would picture when I pictured Coco but that is exactly how Greenhalgh portrays her. Chanel is the essence of a modern woman, and because of that woman today will relate to her strength and power. Igor is intriguing. He is described as unattractive, but the intensity of which he works on his music is heart warming, and his inner turmoil over his love for his wife Catherine, and Coco is adorable.

This was the perfect end of summer read. Greehalgh has a way of describing places so you feel your there. And what better place to spend the last days of summer than 1910's Paris? This was a really great read, and while all of the characters were deeply flawed, most were easy to relate to. Not the best book I've read all summer but still fun. ( )

Interesting story but the main, female character is obviously written by a male. Descriptions of lust and sexual awakenings are so off kilter and not natural to a woman. And then the author writes: "A hot slippery softness that makes him [Stravinsky] think of a licorice." What? Stravinsky is a russian refugee recently arriving to France. Russians do not know what licorice candy/treat is and tend not to like the taste of it when introduced to it.
Basically, not very good writing but nevertheless, interesting story. Perhaps the movie is better, but it is not available on Netflix. ( )