The public life and work of Coco Chanel is well known and has been discussed at length in articles, books, and on film. Yet little has been written about her private self. Gabrielle Palasse-Labrunie-Chanel's only direct descendant-was close to her Auntie Coco for more than forty years ; she has agreed, out of friendship to author Isabelle Fiemeyer, to open her doors and share her memories here. She is the daughter of André Palasse, Chanel's nephew whom she raised as her son-and who, in all probability, was her own child. Plunging readers into the intimate, personal world of the designer, this volume is completed by a revelatory chapter on the war period. The fruit of years of research and investigation, this factual and well-documented account dispels rumors and sheds new light on Chanel's wartime activities.