Mistress of the Ritz

“How can you recognize a Semite?” Throw her in the back of a Nazi truck with her hands tied too tightly behind her back, and point a German gun at her head.”

Ahh, the Ritz. A grand and glamorous hotel which hosts Coco Chanel, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald to name a few. It is the place to see and be seen. It is where Blanche Auzello, who is American, and her French Husband and Hotel Director, Claude Auzello live. They use the glamour of the Ritz to mask the trouble in their marriage. Then in June 1940, the German Army sweeps into Paris and uses the Ritz (and other hotels) to set up their headquarters. Their safe haven from the world and their troubled marriage, is not so safe anymore. Both have secrets, both live secret lives which they live while trying to walk a fine line between keeping their “guests” happy and their staff alive.

The books begins with the couple meeting and showcases the issues in their marriage, their cultural issues and through the use of differing POV, chapters, the reader is given each character’s inner thoughts, motivations and secrets. Some have found the beginning to be slow, but I actually enjoyed the pace. I appreciated how the Author took her time introducing each character and their marital issues. I thought this was nicely done to show how they grew to keep secrets, had misconceptions about the other, lacked effective communication skills and how this affected each other throughout their marriage and especially during a time of great danger. They loved each other, but how well did they know each other?

“It is devastating to see a loved one suffer; it is harder to bear than you own pain. Love is despair, love is delight. Love is fear, love is hope. Love is mercy. Love is anger.”.

This book was inspired by the real-life couple and the use of the Ritz during the invasion by the Nazi’s during the war. As not much is written about the real-life Claude and Blanche Auzello, the Author did fictionalize their lives. I enjoy books about real life events and people. Even though very little is know about the actual couple that these characters is based upon, the contribution to the Ritz and the war effort have been documented even if minimally. While reading this, I couldn’t help but wonder, “would I have been so brave?”, “would I have risked so much?”

I enjoyed the story which showed how people resisted in their own way, how people found courage and offered help to others at great risk to themselves. This book is historical fiction, but it also examines a marriage over a course of time. This is a book about love, about courage, about pain, about loss, about fear, about the war, about resistance, and the hardships of war. This is a great book for discussion as it touches on many issues. I was captivated by the book and was sucked into these characters lives. There are many characters, including the Ritz itself.

This was a Traveling Sisters Group Read.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions are my own.