Krishna
Estella is twenty two and is working in a cloth shop in Paris along with her mother Jeanne, Natasha, Nannette, Marie, and Monsieur Aumont. Nannette brings news of French soldiers retreating before the Nazi army (Yes, this is 1940).
Estella also spent time copying work of designers so that she can sell them to people who wanted to copy the dresses. It paid well. French women at that time were not allowed to own bank accounts or indeed to vote.
When she goes wandering after a party she meets Monsieur Aumont. He assures her that her mother is safe and gives her a map to take to Theatre du Palais-Royal in Paris and give it to someone. He seems to be injured but after keeping him comfortably settled, she knows she needs to go in order to save France.
When she hands the papers and her dress over, the man comes behind and asks her to lead to the man who gave her this; and assures her that he is on the side of the Allies and the French. She realizes that he is a spy. When she goes back, they find Aumont dead from his wounds. The man refuses to give her any details about himself (‘for her own good’) and also advices her to leave France, if possible, as soon as she can because it is no longer safe to remain in that country.
Jeanne, her mother, is horrified of the danger to Estella after knowing her adventures. She asks her daughter to go to New York. She herself promised Monsieur Aumont that she will look after his atelier if something happened to him and so she has to stay back. She asks Estelle to use her American papers (which she produced) to board a ship meant for America, arranged by the US embassy.
Finally, she reveals a secret, Estelle’s father was American and not a French tradesman and she was born in USA. She is an American national by birth.
She makes friends in the ship with another American, Sam, and when the ship is attacked by Germans and is evacuated into lifeboats, Sam places her next to his own mother (as only ladies were evacuated first).
But even before the lifeboats are put down on the sea, the Germans realize that this is an American ship and allow them to pass. Heaving a sigh of relief, Clarice, Sam’s mom, asks Estella to share her cabin while her husband, the doctor helping out on the ship, shares the room with Sam.
When Estella goes to Paris, she contacts the person to whom she was sending clothes but all he wants is for her to sneak into Saks Fifth Avenue and copy the dresses. She refuses to be another copier in US and leaves – a gorgeous model called Janie leaves with her two and the two strike up a friendship.
The story suddenly skips several decades forward, with Fabienne, Estella’s granddaughter in the forefront. We find Fabienne, an Australian citizen, coming home to see her grandmother in America. She asks Fabienne to attend her show in Paris as now Estella, though famous, is wheel chair bound and frail. She is ninety three.
Back to old times, Estella meets the spy whom she met in France appears again. He is Alex and he is dating Lena, an exact replica of Estella. Now Alex is in love with Estella and his liaison with Lena was a mistake. However, Estella has no regard for Alex. Alex goes back to France to help the resistance.
Meanwhile, Lena arranges for Estella to meet really important people in the US in the fashion industry. Lena’s father, the bullying Harry Thaw confronts Estella one day when she is working in Lena’s house but Lena is away.
Lena than goes to France to help Alex. Alex and Estella are in love but Estella thinks that Lena is Alex’s girlfriend and feels disloyal for coveting Alex. However, Alex lets her have this impression to keep Estella safe in German occupied France. Alex is an American lawyer and Estella is there to translate for him (and that is their cover).
Estella, despite danger, wants to go see Maman against the express wishes of Alex. They discover that Lena and Estella could be twins. In addition, Lena tells Estella about the horrible behaviour of ‘Uncle’ Henry and how she got the mansion in US from his rival by deceit.
Then Estella goes to see her mother, stupidly and against the explicit instructions from Alex, and almost gets her killed. Lena and Alex follow her and when she is betrayed by the concierge who recognized her to the Germans, Lena is shot and Estella is saved by Alex who kills the German. You wonder why some characters in thrillers are so stupid that they cannot see reason staring them in the face! Lena seems to be fatally shot but they carry her nevertheless, until they realize that she is dead and leave her body in a chapel to escape.
Later Estella finds success but then she pushes away Alex when she learns that she is a product of incest – kindly revealed by Harry Thaw. Alex is puzzled but respects her wishes. Later she learns that Lena and Alex had a baby called Xander and she decides to adopt the boy as her own. The lawyer says that she is never to reveal to Xander who his real mother is.
When she runs into Alex in a party, she calls him to her house (left to her by Lena) to reveal the boy but due to a misunderstanding, he leaves abruptly.
They both go through emotional conniptions and want to get back together.
Now Alex meets Estella’s mother in France, helping the resistance, just before she dies.
The story is generally well told except for the ‘realization’ that it is wrong to push one whom you love for trivial reasons. It grates in a story that is devoid of sudden turns just for the sake of them.
But for all that, this is an enjoyable romp and ends well.
7/10
— Krishna