Publisher: 5th April 2023 by HQ Fiction
Pages: 384 pages
Genre: historical fiction, women’s fiction, cultural - India
Rating: 5 cups
Synopsis:
Paris, 1974. Radha is now thirty-two and living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents.
When her friend’s grandfather offered her a job at his parfumerie, she quickly discovered she had a talent—she could find the perfect fragrance for any customer who walked in the door. Now, ten years later, she’s working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her.
Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.
The final chapter in Alka Joshi’s New York Times bestselling Jaipur trilogy takes readers to 1970s Paris, where Radha’s budding career as a perfumer must compete with the demands of her family and the secrets of her past.
My Thoughts
I read The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, the second in the Jaipur Trilogy series even though I had not read The Henna Artist. I adored it! Could this final installment live up to my expectations - yes it could. The Perfumist of Paris is exquisite and most likely my favourite from the series.
Book One, The Henna Artist was Lakshmi’s tale and introduced readers to the vivid sights and smells of India. Book Two, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur picked up the story 12 years later with her protégé, Malik. Finally, in Book Three, The Perfumist of Paris the spotlight is now on Radha, Lakshmi’s younger sister, living in 1974 Paris with her husband and two daughters.
‘It fascinated me that a mixture of unrelated ingredients could produce something so tantalizing, so appealing, so intoxicating.’
Alka Joshi is a masterful storyteller from the exotic streets of Jaipur, to the stunning street of Paris. How artfully she captures all the sights, smells and sensations and with this book all about perfumery and essential oils combining East and West made for a spectacular sensory experience. I learnt so much and the combination of art and essential oils was inspired - I was captivated.
‘…my first boss in Paris, told me that the first women's fragrance to use vetiver was Chanel No. 5 in 1921, and here Indians had been using it and exporting the scented grass to the world for thousands of years!’
Each book was so good in its own way yet combined to bring us characters whom we enjoyed seeing evolve and grow. There are references to characters from the other books so reading them first would be beneficial especially as a major plot involves an event from Radha as a young girl in book one
‘There's a settled feeling about you, in you. It's as if, in India, you found a piece of yourself you had lost." There it is again. The idea that we women lose track of ourselves.’
This was an absolutely beautiful conclusion to the Jaipur trilogy that allowed readers to be part of Radha’s struggle to balance her career, marriage and motherhood in 1974 Paris. Alka’s storytelling has opened up new worlds for many of us and I for one look forward to her future books.
‘The measure of us isn't in the day-to-day. And it's not in our past or our future. It's in the fundamental changes we make within ourselves over a lifetime.’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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