Book Review - The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris

Ouch!! Many reviews on this book by Tilar Mazzeo are not particularly favourable. I rather enjoyed reading this bit of history, while being disappointed in the rather open handed manner of writing. If the purpose of reading this book is to find accurate history, I can't recommend this book. If the purpose is to see inside Paris, and specifically the Hotel Ritz, and for a light read, then I definitely recommend it.

In discussion at the book group I belong to this afternoon, I learned of some rather sloppy editing errors - the location of Ernest Hemingway’s death is not accurate; Diaghilev, the ballet dancer who was not a ballet dancer and who died in 1929, long before Hitler could have ‘encouraged’ him; Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor were sent to the Bahamas and not Bermuda - and more. Surprisingly, at the front of the book there is a 'Cast of Characters' and at the back, there are extensive notes and bibliography which suggest poor editing.

Reading without closely examining the details of this book, I found it a light and enjoyable read. It is a part of history that shows a side of Paris, specifically the going’s on at the Hotel Ritz, in World War II. The rich and famous gathered there and had for many years. An attempt to keep white glove and crystal service was made, and continued for the Nazi officers who took over the Hotel Ritz. Hermann Goering and Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel and Marcel Proust, Bob Capa and Martha Gellhorn - war correspondents, photographers, journalists, politicians and celebrities. This small space in history, filled with decadence, and not a little alcohol, may not be well known but to the participants. 

“Luxury stains eveyone it touches.”

~ Charles Ritz

Title: The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris
Author: Tilar Mazzeo
Copyright: 2014 
Publisher: Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.
Publication Date: 2014 (Hard cover)
Format:  Soft Cover (2014)
First Harper Perennial edition published 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-179104-8 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-06-232334-7 (International Edition)
Type:  Historical non-fiction