Mistress of the Ritz

Mistress of the Ritz is the new novel written by Melanie Benjamin.  She is the author of many other historical fiction novels including The Aviator's Wife, about Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, which was a NYT bestseller.  Many of her books have really engaged me while I was reading them and this one does not disappoint.

Though it reads a little slowly through the first half it is building the characters personalities and setting the context for what is to come.  This is a story following three main characters, the Auzellos, Claude and Blanche and the Hotel Ritz in Paris, France.  Yes, the hotel plays such a large part in the novel that it can be considered a character.  Benjamin, the author, develops the The Ritz with such detail of the layout, the beautiful design and decor and the lifestyle of the people and the workers that you can imagine yourself there. 

You can feel like you are a guest at The Ritz along with other American celebrities like Ernest Hemingway and Mr. and Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald as you read this book about life in Paris before and during the Nazi occupation of France.  Before there were parties and celebrations at the hotel.  These special guest along with others like Coco Chanel eat, drank and lived at the hotel.  When the Germans came to Paris they took over the hotel as one of their headquarters.  The staff is moved to another side of the hotel and among them are Claude and Blanche.  Blanche Ross is a young American wannabe actress who comes to The Claridge Hotel and meets the assistant manager, Claude Auzello.  He falls in love with her and rescues Blanche marrying her and when he becomes the manager of The Ritz, she becomes the "Mistress of the Ritz". 
The title is given to Blanche by her husband, not really as a term of endearment, but she decides to take it that way.   "Welcome Home To The Mistress of the Ritz" calls out Claude one evening, with a jealous feeling, when he comes in to see her drinking and making friends with the patrons and the staff, while his workday is still not finished. 

We follow their marriage and their daily lives living and working under the watchful eye of the German officers as the war goes from 1937 until 1945 when the Allies finally arrive and Paris is once again free. 

This is a story of resilience , resistance and also a love story.  Intriguing and written with a sense of suspense, even though as a reader, I was somewhat sure I knew what was coming, I was riveted until the end.