...perfumers are always attempting to capture scents that remind us of certain places, people, moments. It’s the great challenge, to capture not only a true scent but one that recalls entire experience. [p. 191]
Grace Monroe doesn't fit well into her new role as the wife of a businessman in 1950s London. When she receives a letter telling her she's inherited a flat in Paris (not to mention a substantial share portfolio) she jumps at the chance to escape for a while: but who was Eva d'Orsey, and why would she bequeath anything to Grace? The puzzle takes us from Jazz Age New York to Monte Carlo, to wartime Paris and rural Oxfordshire, and to the flat of a mysterious woman known as Madam Zed, once a famous perfumier.
The nature of Eva's connection with Grace was fairly clear (at least to me) from quite early in the book, but that didn't spoil the slow revelation of the story, and Grace's gradual realisation that her future is in her own hands. I liked her rather prickly relationship with her French lawyer, and her friendship with Mallory. Tessaro writes about the career of a twentieth-century perfumier in fascinating detail: I loved the plot device of having Grace smell three perfumes, each of which evoked a period of Eva's life.
I bought this back in 2015, having enjoyed Elegance, by the same author, a while before that: it has languished in my TBR until this year, when I noticed the title whilst looking for a book to fill the 'bibliosmia' prompt on the 52 books in 2024 challenge. And yes, I still like Tessaro's prose, and her braided timelines, and her young women learning who they are. However, this book badly needs a copy-edit: 'avant guarde', 'free reign'... grrr.
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