Mistress of the Ritz

by Melanie Benjamin

Release Day: May 21, 2019

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and Delacorte Press for an advance digital review copy.

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Coco Chanel lived there, Princess Diana spent her last night there and Ernest Hemingway led its liberation from the Nazis – the Ritz Hotel in Paris, boasts a history as rich as its clientele.

Let’s Learn More about One of the “Characters” in this book.

The Ritz Hotel was the first namesake launch by the most revered men in hospitality, Cesar Ritz, “The King of Hoteliers and the Hoteliers of Kings,” in partnership with one of the most famous culinary figures ever, Auguste Escoffier. Ritz, who was credited with coining the phrase, “The customer is never wrong,” wowed so many with this property that it eventually gave us the word “ritzy” for glamorous things and the notion of rolling out the red carpet by “putting on the Ritz.” 

It was among the first hotels in Europe to provide a bathroom en suite, a telephone and electricity for each room. It quickly established a reputation for luxury, with clients including royalty, politicians, writers, film stars and singers. Several of its suites are named in honor of famous guests of the hotel, including Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway. One of the bars of the hotel, Bar Hemingway, is devoted to Hemingway. The grandest suite of the hotel, called the Suite Impériale, has been listed by the French government as a national monument in its own right.

During the Second World War, the hotel was taken over by the occupying Germans as the local headquarters. Because of its status as a symbol of high society and luxury, the hotel has featured in many notable works of fiction including novels (F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s Tender Is The Night and Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises), a play (Noël Coward‘s play Semi-Monde), and films (Billy Wilder‘s 1957 comedy Love in the Afternoon and William Wyler‘s 1966 comedy How to Steal a Million).

Would you like to stay at the newly renovated Ritz Paris? 

(I found it interesting that Chanel is one of the brands represented at the Ritz. Coco Chanel may have collaborated with the Germans at the Ritz during World War II. Now, the Ritz boasts of an area dedicated to the art of CHANEL skin care and  opens the doors of its alcoves for treatments with unrivaled benefits).

And now, who exactly was the “Mistress of the Ritz” ?

JENA’S REVIEW

Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mistress of the Ritz by bestselling historical fiction author Melanie Benjamin, features four main “characters”. The Mistress herself, Blanche Ross, an exuberant American flapper girl, is married to Monsieur Claude Auzello, the director/manager of the Hotel Ritz, Place Vendome, Paris. The Auzellos were real people and did live in the Ritz and run it, although not much is known about them.

The iconic Hotel Ritz, designed and built in 1898 by the equally iconic Cesar Ritz, is the third and perhaps most fascinating character. (Cesar’s partner was also iconic-Auguste Escoffier.) Many well-known and illustrious guests inhabited the elegant rooms and exquisite bars and dining rooms. And the fourth “character” is World War II and the German occupation of Paris, with its Luftwaffe headquarters in the Hotel Ritz. (All true, too.)

The story is told in the third person, alternately by Blanche and Claude, beginning in 1923, when they first meet. The debonair Frenchman’s heart “popped” when he beheld Blanche’s youthful beauty and flamboyant American personality. She gave him the nickname, “Popsy”. “Blanchette”, as he calls her, is fond of throwing vases at him- her passion is boundless.

The coming World War II, and subsequent German occupation of Paris looms over the story of Blanche and Claude, who it turns out have many secrets. When the Germans march past the Arch of Triumph, will the Auzellos cope, and will they and the Ritz survive? Haunting, compelling, troubling, emotional are all words I would use to describe this book.

If we changed the character’s names, the city and the war- we would have the story of “Gone With Wind.” Claude is Ashley, Atlanta is Paris, Tara is the Ritz and perhaps Hemingway can be Rhett. Certainly, Blanche is Scarlett and both women dealt with a major war. (And Scarlett liked to throw vases, too.) We readers love epic stories where seemingly ordinary people are shaped by a profound moment in history. But will Blanche succeed in growing up and finding herself, better than Scarlett did?

“As an armchair historian, I’ve always been drawn to stories from the past, stories that still resonate today—stories we may not know or remember. Untold stories, that explore the hidden corners, the locked closets behind the known historical record. Deeply personal stories, because history only comes alive when we remember that it was made by real people, people just like us. This is why I write novels about these people: Because facts are for the historian, but emotions are the province of the novelist.” Melanie Benjamin, Author

Author Benjamin has made the story of the Ritz, the war and the real people, just like us, come alive in a way that will continue to resonate with me. Readers will feel like they are sitting in the Ritz bar drinking martinis with Blanche. Did Blanche and Claude live happily ever after? Just like Scarlett, we don’t really know what their “tomorrow” brought, but I’m glad their story has been told.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and Delacorte Press for a digital review copy. This is my honest review.

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