The Lost Perfumes of Paris
This novel opens in the spring of 1956 near Paris, France. Twenty-six-year-old Élodie Limeaux toils in her family’s perfume company. Her deceased mother, Aurore, had been a beloved perfumer in France before World War II. Élodie’s father, Fabrice, has refused to let his only daughter follow in her late mother’s footsteps, and Élodie has struggled to become a mere lab assistant. In Fabrice’s stern view, young women must marry and raise children, nothing more.
The Paris Chamber of Commerce has announced a competition to find a new perfume that would capture “The Essence of Paris.” To enter, Élodie must find a lab where she can create the new perfume. Swiss banker and lender to the family business, Caspari, agrees to support her—so long as she partners with Caspari’s dashing son, Marcelo. To Élodie’s surprise, Marcelo’s passion for perfumes matches her own, and they form a strong team. Together they must overcome family turmoil, legal battles over rights to the new and old perfume formulas developed by Élodie and her mother, and nasty betrayals by Élodie’s father and other Limeaux male workers.
This story takes readers into the fascinating art and science of perfumes. The Paris region with its male-centric culture, glorious food, and grand tourist sites pulls readers in deeper. The main and secondary characters are all credible. Élodie sometimes comes across as overly dramatic and intense and too often bites her lips, but that works. She, with her keen sense of smell and unique talent for creating great perfumes, must remain both sensitive and driven. The central plot arcs of multi-generation family dramas, the Paris perfume contest, and the Marcelo- Élodie romance build to rousing resolutions. Highly recommended.
