The Dressmakers Secret is the story of Coco Chanel and her assistant and their life during World War 2. Truly it is mainly about the assistant, Adele. While Chanel plays a part in what life was like for Adele, the story is mainly about Adele. It is told in 2 timelines, one being the war timeline, and the second is Adele’s granddaughter Chloe trying to discover what her grandmothers life was like during the war, since Adele does not talk about it.

This is a World War 2 era book in that the bulk of it takes place during the war, but most of it felt more like a romance story than a war story. The romance story is fairly unoriginal… woman meets man by happenstance, war throws them together, war turns romance into a whirlwind and causes couples to throw caution to the wind, war splits them apart.

The modern timeline also felt more about Chloe falling into a relationship also by happenstance. She spent about 5 pages trying to find out about her grandmother and the rest of her share of the story is about the man she meets in the process.

Many readers will probably love this one. The inclusion of Coco Chanel and insight into her life as a collaborator during the war is interesting. The writing is well done. Ultimately for me this one fell flat as I prefer my WWII era books to be less romance focused. But if that is your kind of book you will probably love this one!

3 stars

Paris, 1941: As Coco Chanel's assistant, Adele lives side by side with German officers in the splendor of The Ritz Hotel. But Adele has a secret. She's working for the resistance, right under the Germans noses.

Present day: Chloe's has never spoken about the war and avoids questions about the legendary designer she once worked for. Now Chloe has come to Paris, to uncover the truth about Adele's life. But is she prepared for what she will find?

I do like a book with a dual timeline, especially if it's well written and the two timelines join together seamlessly. The story has been well researched and covers: fear. love, loss and heartbreak. The characters are well developed and believable. The story flipped backwards and forwards telling us Adele and Chloe's stories. It did take me a few chapters to get into the book but I'm glad I stuck with it. Filled with twists and an ending I wasn't expecting.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #AvonBooksUK and the author #LornaCook for my ARC of #TheDressmakersSecret in exchange for an honest review.

I loved The Dressmaker's Secret. This was the first Lorna Cook novel that I have read, and I found myself glued to this story. I know a great deal about the Holocaust and the treatment of Jews in Vichy France. I had also read briefly about Coco Channel, but I felt that I learned so much more by reading this novel. The Dressmaker's Secret was a nice combination of history and romance, with the greater emphasis on history. It was easy to see all the research that hd gone into writing this novel. The characters were compelling and the way that the novel unfolded created tension enough to keep me reading into the night.
As is often the case with contemporary novels, The Dressmaker's Secret shifts between two time periods. Cook did a nice job of shifting between narrators and time periods. I had no trouble following the narration and shifting between time periods.
Although this is my first Lorna Cook novel, it will not be my last. I appreciate that the author and publisher provided this ARC, and although I am obligated to write a review, I have no trouble recommending this novel. One of the great benefits of NetGalley providing access to so many wonderful novels is the opportunity to discover new authors. I will be looking for Cook's previous novels.

This story takes place in Paris and travels back and forth between two time periods. In the beginning, we follow a young woman, Chloe, who is determined to find out what had happened to her grandmother during WW II, when she was working with Coco Chanel. We also follow the grandmother's storyline as she recounts her life working for the great Coco Chael.
The format for this story is not something new. Interestingly, it highlighted Coco Chanel's betrayal of the French people during the war and her cooperation with the Nazis. But her grandmother, Adele, wasn't really a dressmaker; she was more of an administrative assistant/ house servant. If the title refers to Chanel, I guess I am confused because the story was about Adele. The development of the female characters did not engage me, and I found the book dragged for the first half. Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for this ARC.

I have seem to have read a lot of books set in Paris recently. This one was simply stunning though. Assistant to Coco Chanel we follow Adele through her daily life in war torn Paris. A really gripping novel that holds your attention. Really enjoyable read.

Wonderful read! I’ve read several books about CoCo Chanel and this one ranks at the top. Highly recommend if you love WWII history!

When the Germans invaded France, most Parisians fled. However, Mademoiselle Chanel chose to remain in the occupied city, living at the Hotel Ritz where the German military officers were living. Cook’s story starts in the summer of 1941 where Chanel meets a high-ranking German attaché of the German embassy in Paris, Baron Hans Gunter von Dinklage, at the Ritz and ends in 1945, with a brief epilogue about her death in 1971.

Readers enter Coco’s world for four years and immerse themselves in wartime Paris, The Ritz, secrets, lies, love and resistance. A unique perspective, Coco’s life is told through the eyes of her ladies’ maid, Adele Fabron. Although Coco had a luxurious apartment above her shop across the street, she’d been living in the Ritz since 1937. Adele is hired in 1941 as a live-in ladies’ maid after an accidental meeting and as the narrative progresses, readers are privy to Coco and Adele’s secrets. You’ll find out why Coco collaborated with the Nazis, why a precious 1647 painting by Charles Le Brun was found in her suite at the Ritz, how she was able to regain full monetary control of her company from her Jewish partners, as well as discover why Adele wants to keep her extracurricular activities to herself, and if she can attain happiness and love after the war.

To expose Coco’s secret life, Cook has chosen to present this story as a dual timeline and uses Chloe’s quest in 2018 to slowly reveal the secrets behind the doors of No. 302, The Coco Chanel Suite at the Ritz Paris. I was surprised that Cook chose not to add much emotion nor a sense of the luxurious lifestyle I was expecting to read about; however, the beautifully executed dual timeline and the surprise twist more than made up for any shortcomings. Chloe has ties to Paris, The Ritz and to Coco Chanel, so you’ll have to read to find out why she is able to shed a light on the fashion icon’s life and see if what Chloe uncovers while in Paris has the potential to help solve her present problems.

Since 1999 the records the French secret service kept on celebrities they deemed suspicious have been declassified and authors and journalists are sharing what they’ve gleaned from accessing the documents. I’ve enjoyed ‘The Chanel Sisters’ by Judith Little which is written from Coco’s younger sister’s point of view and reveals Coco’s rise to fame. I also have (unread at this point) The Last Collection by Jeanne Mackin and Mademoiselle Chanel by CW Gortner. Although the focus is the same, each author brings out different aspects of this enigmatic fashion icon’s secret life. I'm sure as research continues into these declassified documents, we'll have more books published, giving us a deeper look into Coco Chanel.

Publishes January 27, 2022.

I was gifted this advance copy by Lorna Cook, Avon Books UK, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Lorna Cook has unearthed another unusual aspect of WW 2 history as the basis for this absorbing novel. The eponymous dressmaker is Adele, Chloe's grandmother, who is unwilling to speak of her experiences during the war when she worked for Coco Chanel. Chloe travels to Paris to see what she can discover. This is a very satisfying story with an unexpected twist that had me gripped from beginning to end.

I loved this book. In fact it made me cry tears of happiness at the end. Adele us working for Coco Chanel in Paris during the Second World War and falls in love with an American doctor who disappears when America enters the war. Adele’s granddaughter goes to Paris after her divorce to find out what she can glean about her grandmothers life. It’s amazingly well written and the story flows along. I loved everything about it. Fantastic

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
A compelling, interesting read. I was aware of much about Chanel's history during this time but not the extent of her Nazi involvement and other facts. I was fascinated and found the book hard to put down.

The Dressmakers Secret by Lorna Cook explores Coco Chanel’s dark days as a proven Nazi collaborator through her fictional wartime assistant. Much of the dual-timeline story focuses on Adele’s activities in occupied Paris, as she becomes aware of her employer’s actions and quietly rebels against them. Losing the job would turn her out into the streets, homeless, with no family, yet she can’t condone Chanel’s distasteful proclivities. She thus defies danger to align with an attractive American doctor who supports the resistance.

In modern-day, Adele’s granddaughter visits Paris and learns about Chanel’s backstory. As her grandmother never speaks of those days, she’s determined to discover which side she supported. Chloe is also on a journey of personal discovery, seeking new directions following a divorce.

The Dressmakers Secret is a well-researched novel weaving romance and suspense / mystery around both storylines. From a vintage clothing angle, Chanel is an undisputable icon. But history also should rightly reflect her war-time actions. Cook’s nuanced presentation doesn’t condemn the couturier, but illuminates her self-absorbed, human frailties.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the opportunity to read this compelling story.

Interesting and engaging read. Not a story I had heard before. Kept you guessing with the alternations between past and present. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

Adele travels to Paris to find work, she’s an orphan and was raised by nuns in a convent at St. Nazaire, and by chance she becomes Coco Chanel’s private secretary. Due to the threat of another war, Coco closes her fashion house, she sacks all of her seamstresses and Adele’s very lucky to keep her job. Coco moves into The Ritz, Adele’s given a small room and is in charge of her employers; correspondence, meetings, her belongings and packs Madame’s suitcases when she travels. Adele finds living at The Ritz rather intimidating, especially when high ranking German officers move in, Coco begins socializing with them and dating a much younger man.

Adele feels guilty, so many French people are going hungry, and she has a safe place to stay and plenty of food. Adele decides to donate blood, on the way to the hospital she witnesses a Jewish woman being arrested and she’s shocked. Dr Theo Dixon is working for the American Red Cross, he draws Adele’s blood, and he’s an inspiration to Adele. They become friends, Theo's involved in the resistance and Adele decides she can no longer watch from the sidelines.

The Dressmaker’s Secret has a dual timeline is goes between Adele’s story in wartime Paris and her granddaughter Chloe moving to Paris in the present time and she’s having her version of a gap year.

Chloe’s marriage has ended after five unhappy years, she’s decides to rent a little apartment in Paris, and help out her friend who owns a vintage clothes shop. Chloe’s interested in Coco Chanel, her grandmother worked for her during the 1940’s and Adele attends an auction of antique items from The Ritz. Here she meets Etienne, he’s an art dealer, has an interested in history, and single. He and Chloe start talking, she had no idea that Coco was friendly with the Nazi’s, and information was recently released confirmed she was a Nazi sympathizer, and she visited Berlin several times during the war. Chloe’s grandmother hasn’t spoken about the war years, with help from Etienne she starts looking at old archives, she’s very concerned about what she will find and could her sweet grandmother have been a collaborator?

I received a copy of The Dressmaker’s Secret from NetGalley and Avon Books in exchange for an honest review, the story is full of mystery, intrigue, wartime secrets and romance. For Chloe’s character it’s about moving forward from her divorce, feeling free, and discovering how brave her beloved grandmother was during the war. Lorna Cook decided to write her book based on what Coco Chanel really did during the war, she combines the truth about the famous collaborator and with a narrative about two strong and courageous women and five stars from me.

How well does one know their past and family’s history? That is a question that Chloe seeks to answer as she sets out on a journey to uncover her grandmother Adele’s role and involvement with Coco Chanel and Germans during World War II. The novel presents a dual timeframe, Chloe, a recently divorced woman who embarks on a year of self-discovery and growth in Paris during present-day and Adele (Chloe’s grandmother) and assistant to Coco Chanel during World War II and the German occupation of Paris. Adele lived with Coco Chanel in the Ritz surrounded by Nazis forcing her to question her loyalties, morals, humanity, and conscience.

This is a story of struggle, hardship, survival, loyalty, heartbreak, love, loss, and hope. The author takes the reader on an emotional journey and does an excellent job with creating strong and inspiring female lead characters. The characters are well-developed, and the author does a wonderful job of portraying the characters thoughts, feelings, emotions, and insecurities making them likeable and relatable. The dual storyline transitions back and forth seamlessly and the reader is actively engaged in both past and present storylines. The novel is well researched and thought provoking forcing the reader to examine the characters choices, dilemmas, and behaviors throughout the novel.

Much of the novel focuses on Coco Chanel and her life before and during World War II. The author’s presentation of Coco Chanel through the eyes of her assistant offered a unique look at Coco Chanel and her actions and possible motivations surrounding them. It is an interesting examination of a fashion icon and how war touched the lives of all people no matter their standing in life.

This novel keeps you on the edge of your seat and forces the reader to question issues of loyalty and how far a person will go to survive during times of war. It highlights true strength and acts of heroism and humanity. The author does a wonderful job of bringing the stories together in an interesting and heartwarming way towards the end of the novel connecting the two stories. The reader is left with feelings of love, hope, and new beginnings.

This novel is captivating and was a quick and enjoyable read. Both stories were engaging and kept the readers attention. Often, readers favor one storyline over the other, however here the stories are equally satisfying filled with interest, intrigue, heartbreak, and hope. The reader is filled with suspense while they wait to discover who Adele and Coco Chanel were during World War II and the roles they played respectively during time of war. The ending is surprising and a nice touch of pulling the storylines together bringing closure.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Oh, the ending – well the almost ending – it’s actually the next to the last chapter. It will make you smile and bring tears to your eyes! I’m not giving it away due to spoilers but trust me this book does NOT belong in your DNF pile.

This is year another dual timeline / World War II (Paris) / Present Day (London & Paris) novel. While I think this genre is a bit overdone, The Dressmaker’s Secret adds an interesting twist by creating Adele, the Paris character as a personal assistant to Coco Chanel. Madam Chanel moves both herself and her assistant into the Hotel Ritz for the duration of the war. Adele, unlike Chanel has a conscience and feels both uncomfortable and guilty that while other Parisians are suffering from cold and hunger she has enough to eat and warm bed. She does what she can to aid the resistance but the need for food and shelter hold her back from getting to involved.

Fast forward 50 years and Adele’s granddaughter, Chloe returns to Paris to recover from a failed marriage & to reinvent herself. Via a handsome Frenchman she becomes interested in WWII Paris and the two begin to research the activities of ordinary French citizens during the Nazi Occupation. What they find shocks Chloe. She returns to England & confronts her grandmother and the family secrets spill out.

Ms. Cook includes a list of her sources – something I, who love to go down rabbit holes really appreciate. The author has done her research - I knew a bit about Coco Chanel, Parisian Nazi collaborators and general war time conditions but I had no idea that Coco Chanel had a Nazi lover and tried to use the Nuremberg Laws to verst her perfume company from her Jewish financial partners. I don’t think I’ll ever see those famous interlocked Cs in the same light.

My only quibble is that when Chloe starts her research she finds what she's looking for almost immediately & appears to have no trouble deciphering handwritten World War II era French and German records. This is a novel so I'll let this pass since the author needed to keep the novel moving along.

If you are a fan of Sarah’s Key or the Paris Librarian, then you will find The Dressmaker’s Secret a compelling and interesting read. This is the first of Ms. Cook’s books that I’ve read and I look forward to reading her pervious novels.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in return for my unbiased and voluntary review.

Thank you AvonBooksUK for this eARC! I love a historical fiction story based on WW2 and The Dressmaker's Secret did not disappoint! I felt like I was in Paris with Chloe eating tartiflette and beef bourguignon and experiencing the amazing Parisian life wearing vintage clothes. Adele was another completely engaging character and flipping between Chloe and Adele's stories was so seamless, where one perspective stopped, the other took over.
I would definitely recommend this book to all historical fiction lovers! 4.5 stars!

I’m conflicted about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed Adele and Theo’s story. On the other hand, I’m not generally a fan of stories that split between the past and the present. I don’t care so much about current people’s journey to discovering the past as much as the story of the past.
Also, I would have enjoyed a deeper look at Coco Chanel through Adele’s eyes that revealed Coco like other books on Chanel.

What a heartfelt book about the war and what the people of France had to do to survive including a very famous dressmaker. The story weaves ithrough the eyes of two woman and how they found love. Great story

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the opportunity to read this. The setting of the book, Paris, at the height of World War II drew me in. Dual timelines are always interesting too. Chloe lives in Paris following a divorce, where she meets a stranger that encourages her interest in Nazi occupied Paris. Her grandmother, Adele, lived in Paris at that time. We read about her discoveries into her grandmother's background. The other timeline is of Adele, her grandmother. Her chance encounter that led her to working for Coco Chanel, the famous designer and perfumer. Adele lived during the Nazi occupation, in Paris at The Ritz. She literally lived surrounded by Nazis. We learn more about Chanel's shocking role with the Nazis and Adele's view of the war. There's love, heartache, tremendous and horrible deaths, and an ending that beautifully ties everything together. I was fascinated and wholly engrossed.

Lorna Cook is fast becoming one of my favourite authors, and she never fails to deliver a rocking good story about hidden histories that linger long in your mind and send you off researching events that you never knew had happened. But don’t let this fool you: her writing is sublime, and The Dressmaker’s Secret is no exception to this rule!

Like many other reviewers of this novel, I didn’t know about Coco Chanel’s wartime history, and here it is cleverly used to parallel Adèle’s story of finding her feet while working as Chanel’s assistant in occupied Paris. Cook captures the glamour of The Ritz with perfection, and contrasts it brilliantly with the hardship that those who lived outside its plush interior endured. And, as will all Cook’s novels, you get two stories for the price of one: in the present day we follow Chloé’s investigations into her grandmother, Adèle’s, past as she, too, finds her feet (and herself) in a very different Paris.

Love, history, atmosphere and resilience … what’s not to adore?

A real page turner, and five big stars from me.