Coco at the Ritz A novel

Diliberto first portrayed French fashion icon Coco Chanel in her novel The Collection (2007). Here she explores a period in the life of this famed designer that has been heretofore overlooked in popular culture. In 1944, during the Nazi occupation of Paris, Chanel was arrested and interrogated by French soldiers on suspicion of treason due to her relationship with a German spy. After all, she did spend the occupation living at the Ritz Hotel with her German lover, Hans Gunther "Spatz" von Dincklage. But was she a Nazi collaborator or a shrewd woman keenly concerned with her own self-preservation? Biographer and novelist Diliberto uses the scant pieces of historical evidence about Coco's wartime years to imagine her personal and professional motivations, offering glimpses into her childhood and rise from poverty to fashion royalty and her deep need for male companionship. Coco's circle included Resistance fighters and Nazi collaborators, poets, actors, and artists on all sides of the conflict, and Diliberto reveals that Coco's complex temperament and intricate web of relationships defy easy categorization. Recommend to fans of Melanie Benjamin and Jennifer Chiaverini.

Biographer and novelist Diliberto (Diane von Furstenberg: A Life Unwrapped) offers a taut and surprising portrayal of French fashion designer Coco Chanel, focusing on her interrogation for suspected treason against France. Diliberto recounts Coco's giddy initial encounter with German spy Hans "Spatz" von Dincklage in 1940 at the Ritz, six weeks after the Germans occupied Paris; she had returned to the city from her vacation home to appeal for the release of her imprisoned nephew. Coco, 61, was smitten with Spatz, and they became lovers, living large at the Ritz and avoiding the wartime deprivations inflicted on ordinary Parisians. Under questioning from Resistance officers, Coco, who preferred to believe Spatz was never a spy, denies he was a Nazi, instead claiming that he was merely an embassy attaché. Coco was arrested in August 1944 after Paris's liberation, and accused of collaboration with the enemy. Diliberto imagines Coco's hostile questioning by former French Resistance fighters as a battle of wits, as Coco faces down allegations of spying, planning a relaunch of her business with the Nazis, and anti-Semitism toward a business partner. Diliberto ably depicts Coco, who was set free after Winston Churchill intervened, as a formidable woman of independence, massive wealth, and steely nature. From the opaque historical record emerges a satisfying take on a complicated woman. Agent: Flip Brophy, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Dec.)