LOVE IN THE TIME OF WAR
Oona Reilly (Copper), a young American, arrives in Paris with her journalist husband, Amory Heathcote, in 1944, immediately after the liberation. Though their marriage is merely 18 months old, it is already in trouble. Amory has a roving eye and cares little about his wife’s feelings. Though Copper initially fools herself about her husband’s infidelities, after a point she decides to walk out and files for divorce. She worries little about their families’ reactions or her means of survival in an unfamiliar country still recovering from the throes of war.
Since Copper had been ghostwriting articles and doing photography for a journalist friend who died, she now decides to pursue journalism as a profession and establishes herself pretty quickly.
Copper approaches Christian Dior, to whom she had been introduced by Amory’s friend, Giroux, for help. Dior is ‘an obscure, middle-aged designer from the back rooms of a decaying fashion house whose timid nature and reluctance for fame clash with the bold brilliance with his designs’. Through Dior, she becomes friendly with his bohemian friends from the world of Parisian fashion, especially Suzy Solidor, who becomes obsessed with her. Copper finds herself helplessly drawn to the older woman—until she meets Count Henry Velikovsky, a widower, secret agent and intellectual who tries to woo her with the same intensity as Suzy.
Torn between her two lovers, and resisting the idea of a second marriage that threatens her freedom, Copper works harder than ever to maintain her independence. Though she is the protagonist, it is Catherine, Dior’s sister and a German concentration camp survivor, who adds greater substance to the book. Through her portrayal and her accounts, we learn more about the Second World War and its impact upon civilians; politics at various levels; the condition of prisoners and traitors; and cowards and sycophants who later claim to be war heroes.
The Second World War provides a historical context to the plot, though this isn’t strictly a war novel. The characters and incidents are based on real people and real-life events, which makes them much more interesting. One may take Copper’s obstacle-free accomplishments with a pinch of salt but, for all her flaws, she comes across as a strong, charming character. The cherry-topping is, of course, Christian Dior—on the way to becoming a world-renowned designer.