Chantal

by Yvone Lenard

A WOMAN MEN LOVED... SEDUCED... BETRAYED...BUT NEVER, NEVER FORGOT
CHANTAL carries the reader back to a France rocked by the rhythms of Nazi jackboots... to young, beautiful Chantal, her innocence lost to a shameless French aristocrat and to the brutal truths of war.

CHANTAL captures the danger and desperate gaiety of occupied Paris, where intrigue leads to liaisons of shame and scandal... and to an American whose life is joined with hers by a secret fate.

CHANTAL exposes a glittering Hollywood whose golden promise is shattered by greed and sin... where an unforgettable woman searches for the one man whose searing flesh can touch hers--and make her whole again.

560 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless you’re a dedicated reader, skip this one. The first half of the novel is engaging enough with its storytelling, but I could’ve cared less about most of the characters. And in no way does this reflect the scandalous shenanigans of Krantz or Collins as the blurb on the cover suggests.

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lenard has a good idea, and when it works, it works well. But when it's bad, it's really bad. Original passages give way to cliche-ridden dialogue and outrageously stereotyped characters. Parts I and II hang in there, but part III, which takes place in 1960s Hollywood, totally died on me. The persistent reader will be rewarded with some engaging depictions of French country life during the war.

Read at your own discretion. You'll either tolerate it or hate it. I finished it on principle, but really couldn't have cared less about the characters by the end.

[Misfit]

Another casualty of trying to find a book to read after one of the best reads of the year. I'll try this another time, too fluffy for today's mood.