Before Coco Chanel became an haute-couture icon, she was simply Gabrielle, one of three sisters left at the convent at Aubazine by their peddler father after their mother's death. Though they learned to sew at the convent, Gabrielle and her sisters chafed against the strictures of their new life, longing to leave and make their own way in the world. In her second novel, The Chanel Sisters, Judithe Little (Wickwythe Hall) tells the story of Gabrielle's rise to fame through the eyes of her sister, Antoinette.
Four years younger than Gabrielle, Antoinette (known as "Ninette") shares her sister's desire to leave Aubazine and become something more than a seamstress or a peasant's wife. Little's narrative recounts their grim years at the convent in the company of their older sister, Julia-Berthe; their eventual connection to their father's family, especially their young aunt, Adrienne; and their early post-convent years, working odd jobs in Moulins and then in Vichy. Gabrielle dreams of a career on the stage and Adrienne wants to marry a rich man, but Ninette--to her own surprise--discovers a facility for making hats. Quiet but determined, she learns all she can at the milliner's shop where she works. When Gabrielle, now the bored mistress of a wealthy man, decides she wants to make hats, too, Ninette lends her skill to her sister's new project. Through the next several years, the sisters hone their craft and dream of opening their own shop, eventually founding Chanel Modes in Paris.
Little expertly blends the few known facts about Ninette (and the much more extensive details of Gabrielle's biography) with fiction, narrating her story in Ninette's voice and drawing a sharp portrait of the privations the sisters face. They have no money and very few connections, getting by on backbreakingly hard work and a bit of luck. Central to Ninette's motivation (and, she suspects, to Gabrielle's) is proving she is worthy of love and admiration after being abandoned by their father. Both sisters become entangled in complicated affairs with wealthy men--an English aristocrat for Gabrielle, an Argentinian horse breeder for Ninette. When Europe plunges into World War I, the fortunes of Chanel and its owners will change in unexpected ways.
Full of rich period detail and lush descriptions of the designs that would make Chanel famous, Little's novel is a tribute to gritty hard work, ingenuity and determination. A moving portrait of the deep and complex bonds between sisters, Ninette's story shines a light on a courageous, talented woman too often left in her sister's shadow. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: Coco Chanel's sister Antoinette tells her own story in a lushly described novel of struggle, romance and gritty hard work.