Dimensions
141 x 223 x 30mm
A Novel of Music, Perfume and Passion.
'Coco And Igor' tells of the secret affair between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky that took place in Paris in 1920.
The rhythms of chance that allow the young Coco Chanel to witness the riotous first performance of Stravinsky's 'The Rite Of Spring' bring them together seven years later at a dinner hosted by Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes. The attraction between the composer and the couturiere is instant and electric.
The newly rich Chanel invites the recently exiled and penniless Stravinsky - along with this wife and four children - to spend the summer at her villa outside Paris. Soon after they move in, Stravinsky's wife, Catherine, falls ill with consumption. But Igor, liberated by his surroundings, experiences a fresh burst of creativity, while Coco is poised to discover her revolutionary new fragrance, No. 5.
As the sensuality and excitement of their work draw them ever closer, Coco and Igor enjoy nights out together in Paris. Inside the villa the atmosphere becomes intoxicating, and soon they embark upon a passionate affair. The whole household is affected, including the Stravinsky family and the servants, and the fallout involves Rasputin's assassin, a revival of 'The Rite', a rifle and a maverick parrot.
By turns passionate and playful, 'Coco And Igor' celebrates two figures who lived intriguingly parallel lives, and charts a relationship that endures as a luminous trace across the twentieth century. It introduces a delightfully assured new voice to fiction.
