The Designer

By: Marius Gabriel

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

In 1944, newly married Copper Reilly arrives in Paris soon after the liberation. While the city celebrates its freedom, she's stuck in the prison of an unhappy marriage. When her husband commits one betrayal too many, Copper demands a separation.

Alone in Paris, she finds an unlikely new friend: an obscure, middle-aged designer from the back rooms of a decaying fashion house whose timid nature and reluctance for fame clash with the bold brilliance of his designs. His name is Christian Dior.

Realising his genius, Copper urges Dior to strike out on his own, helping to pull him away from his insecurities and towards stardom. With just a camera and a typewriter, she takes her own advice and ventures into the wild and colourful world of fashion journalism.

Soon Copper finds herself torn between two very different suitors, questioning who she is and what she truly wants. As the city rebuilds and opulence returns, can Copper make a new, love-filled life for herself?

©2017 Marius Gabriel Cipolla (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Copper Is A Feminist Before It Was Cool—1944!

I got this book as a free book of the month from Amazon. It was delightful. I also bought the audible version and enjoyed listening to the narrative. I always like to listen to a good story read to me. This story was about Copper Reilly, a woman ahead of her time, from the U.S. living in Paris with her journalist husband. She wanted to write but he Pooh-poohed the idea as she was just a woman. She wound up writing for a friend who was there to write fashion stories but was usually too drunk or hung over to meet his deadline. She stepped in and found her work was liked and then...he died. She mourned the loss but then sent in his article and photographs under her own name and found that Harper’s Bazaar liked her. Copper became friends with Dior and his wild crowd of bohemians. She was young and beautiful and her husband was an unfaithful lout. She divorced him and became a well known writer and photographer. The book revealed much about the life in Paris in the early 40’s after it was liberated from the Germans. The book was interesting, historical, and had a good female character and everyone in general was excellent. I was unfamiliar with the author but will be looking for his books now. Interesting that he wrote under a female name and wrote romance novels until he could come out under his own name. Quite a well respected author;. Fun to find these free books and be introduced to new author or old authors you just heard about. A real treat. Saskis Maarleveld was great as narrator.

Great listen!

I had no idea what to expect from this book. Frankly, I was drawn to the cover photo. Our book club had recently read The Lilac Girls, and since this book is about Paris during the same period, I thought this might compliment that. Also, I know next to nothing about how the fashion world operated so found that part of the book fastenating.

I had never listened to Ms Maarleveld before and found her performance exceptional. I will look for more books she performs in the future. I don't speak French, but found her pronunciation and accent to be authentic.

Frustrating, unrealistic

I did not like this story for the following reasons:

*Overt sexual abuse- Copper, the protagonist, is repeatedly subject to attention from another female character that, were it coming from a male character, would qualify as sexual assault. Somehow, the reader is supposed to accept this character as an embodiment of one of two legitimate paths for Copper to take (ambiguous sexuality and a bohemian lifestyle vs. heterosexuality and a traditional lifestyle), yet I can't imagine any woman being comfortable with or turned on by the actions of the female lover in this story. Copper's reactions read like a clueless man speculating about how a woman would respond to another smelly, unwashed woman making unwanted sexual advances toward her, instead of how a woman would actually think/respond

*Overly sympathetic portrayal of Nazi collaborators/overly simplified portrayal of those trying to root out Nazi collaborators- I get that after war the victors can be over-zealous in rooting out collaborators, and one small good point for this book was the harrowing depiction early on of the suffering a woman who had a child with a German soldier was forced to go through. That being said, the Nazis were, well, the Nazis, yet the author presents those who entertained or collaborated with them in a relatively positive light, and those who try to root them out are presented almost to a one as boors

*Unlikable/Unrelatable and stereotypical main character- Copper adheres to the stereotypical trope of a young, beautiful yet tomboyish woman who somehow, despite being slim, pretty, striking, etc., has no idea how beautiful she is, yet still manages to spread enlightenment everywhere she goes. She inspires Christian Dior to create clothes for a new silhouette, drives those around her crazy with passion for her, and yet somehow has no idea why. She is also pretty annoying in that she does not seem to be able to stand up for herself. Overall she reads like a woman written by a man, which I guess she is.

To be fair, there were a couple of high points for this book. The author did a good job of setting the scene, and one could really picture Paris at the end of the war. The fashion history was also fascinating, including in particular the history of Christian Dior's sister, who was imprisoned and tortured at Ravensbruck, and story of the Theatre de la Mode. Narration was good and the reader did a credible French accent that was not over the top.

Refreshing

To find a Book from World War II that does not focus on it’s horrors too much

Good story, some parts felt forced and unnecessary

Overall, this was an enjoyable story. I felt that the lesbian storyline was too forced and wasn't necessary to the overall story. Love the portrayal of Dior and his friends.

A wonderful story!

The story and the reader kept me engaged from the first to last page. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author and narrator.

Delightful!

I loved this book. From the very first chapter through to the last paragraph, it held my rapt attention. The narrator is pleasant and easy to listen to. The characters are very easy to relate to, and I expect I'll be contemplating Copper's measured and non-judgmental responses for a long time.

It was very fun taking this ride beside Christian Dior, and strolling the streets of Paris. Copper's sensible and down-to-earth manner, as well as her independence and courage makes her immensely likable.

Good story about fashion but wanted more Dior.

It was a good story with a few surprises. The narrator did a great job with French pronunciation. However, it would have been nice to hear more about Dior and his journey toward success. Dior's history with Gascon and Yves St. Lauren would have been good.

However there was a lot about the history of the fashion industry at the end of the war that I learned. It also aroused my curiosity to find out more about Dior and found there was a lot of research about his sister, family and obsession with prediction of the future. I learned a lot.

Big names in fashion, art, literature abound

Both stories of Christian Dior and Paris at the end of WWII were very interesting and compelling. I could do without the American journalist and her part in the romantic historical fiction. She was not believable although necessary to bring forward other issues and happenings around the period in question.

Absolutely loved it!

I seriously loved this book! Totally worth a credit! I was engaged almost immediately and it kept me listening all the way through. I didn't want to shut it off...