In 1913, the young couturiere Coco Chanel attended the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, witnessing the birth of a musical revolution that, like her own designs, ripped down the artifice of the old regime to usher in something profoundly modern.
Seven years later, she invited Stravinsky and his family, now exiled from their Russian homeland, for a summer at her villa...and a hot love affair. As Stravinsky enjoys a new burst of creativity and Chanel brings forth her own revolutionary creation - the perfume Chanel No. 5 - their love threatens to overtake work, family and life.
COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY (Riverhead Trade Paperback Original) by Ben Greenhalgh is now available at Amazon.com.
Also be sure to keep an eye out for the screen adaptation - which closed this year's Cannes Film Festival - in theaters January 2010.
- Lesley Scott