Book Review: Mistress of the Ritz, by Melanie Benjamin (2019)

Author Melanie Benjamin, and the cover of Mistress of the Ritz, to be published in May, 2019.

Melanie Benjamin’s previous historical novels have examined the lives of Truman Capote, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and Hollywood star Mary Pickford. Her new novel, Mistress of the Ritz, will be issued in May, and focuses on Claude Auzello, the long-time director of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, and his wife Blanche. The novel skips around in time, but the main focus is the German occupation of France during World War II. 

After the French government surrendered to the Germans in June of 1940, the Nazis took over the Ritz and used it as a command post. Claude must decide how he will deal with the Germans. This was a question that millions of people throughout Europe had to deal with as the Germans invaded and conquered most of the continent. How will you handle the Germans? Will you collaborate with them or resist them? It’s a difficult question, made trickier by the moral obligation Claude feels towards the many people who work at the Ritz. 

Blanche must decide what course of action she will take as well. An American, Blanche met Claude in 1923, when he was working at Hotel Claridge, just before he got his job at the Ritz. Blanche and Claude have a fairly tempestuous marriage, as he clings to some of his French customs, like taking a mistress, and they argue frequently. 

Mistress of the Ritz paints a vivid picture of the luxurious life at the Ritz. As far as the plot of the novel goes, I found it quite engaging. However, I correctly guessed the two big plot reveals long before they occurred in the narrative. 

As an F. Scott Fitzgerald buff, I do have to point out one historical error. When Blanche comes back to the Ritz after a fight with Claude in 1937, she asks “Where’s Scott?” Ernest Hemingway then tells Blanche that Scott and Zelda have gone back to America. Which they did, back in September of 1931. Scott and Zelda never returned to Europe after that, which means that Blanche hasn’t seen Scott for six years. So she really shouldn’t be surprised that he isn’t drinking in the bar at the Ritz. Anyway, that’s a small historical quibble. 

If you’re interested in historical fiction, you should pick up Mistress of the Ritz when it comes out in May.