“I can talk for hours about fragrances. When I’m mixing a formula, hours can pass before I stop to look around, stretch my neck or step outside the lab for a glass of water and a chat with Celeste, Delphine’s secretary. It’s Celeste who often reminds me that it’s time for me to pick up the girls from school when I’m between nannies. It’s peaceful in the lab. And quiet. And the scents - honey and clove and vetiver and jasmine and cedar and myrrh and gardenia and musk - are such comforting companions.”
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and those are some lines from the first chapter of Alka Joshi’s newest novel The Perfumist of Paris. This is the third in her trilogy following The Henna Artist and The Secret of Jaipur.
This story revolves around the life of Radha, the sister of the henna artist Lakshmi. Radha moved to Paris as a young adult to put some distance between herself and her illegitimate son who was adopted by friends. She has made a life for herself — married a Frenchman with whom she has two girls and found meaningful work with a master perfumer helping to design new fragrances. Her goal is to get her chemistry degree and become a master perfumer herself but her husband would prefer she be a stay at-home mother.
Back in India, her seventeen year old son, Nikki, discovers letters that point to a connection to Radha and he travels from India to Paris to find out what it is. This novel gives an insight into what it takes to make a new perfume but it’s also about family and the need to be honest, open and forgiving.
If you’re looking for a story about the billion dollar perfume industry as well as the continued story of the henna artist’s family, then you must read The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi.
