An acclaimed international bestseller, The Perfume Garden is a sensuously written story of lost love, family secrets--and the art of creating a perfect scent.
High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. Untouched since Franco's forces tore through Spain in 1936, the whitewashed walls have crumbled, and the garden, laden with orange blossom, grows wild. Emma Temple is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Emma is London's leading perfumier, but her blessed life has taken a difficult turn. Her free-spirited mother, Liberty, who taught her the art of fragrance making, has just passed away. At the same time, she broke up with her long-time lover and business partner, Joe, whose baby she happens to be carrying.
While Joe is in New York trying to sell his majority share in their company, Emma, guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed to her in Liberty's will, decides to leave her job and travel to Valencia, where she will give birth in the house her mother mysteriously purchased just before her death. The villa is a perfect retreat: redolent with the exotic scents of orange blossom and neroli, dappled with light and with the rich colors of a forgotten time. Emma makes it her mission to restore the place to its former glory. But for her aging grandmother, Freya, a British nurse who stayed in Valencia during Spain's devastating civil war, Emma's new home evokes memories of a terrible secret, a part of her family's past that until now has managed to stay hidden. With two beautifully interwoven narratives and a lush, atmospheric setting, Kate Lord Brown's The Perfume Garden is a dramatic, emotional debut that readers won't soon forget.
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From the Publisher
“The Perfume Garden swept me along with its interlinked stories of love and loss, heroism and hope. Beautifully written and researched this is an intensely atmospheric read, and a hugely enjoyable one.” --Isabel Wolff, international bestselling author of A Vintage Affair
“Sweepingly romantic … heartbreaking at times; a vivid, gripping read.” --Katherine Webb, international bestselling author of The Legacy
“I found myself bewitched by The Perfume Garden … a deliciously winding narrative that takes us into the heart of battle, the locked rooms of family secrets, and the alluring promise of finally finding true love.” --Good Housekeeping (UK)
“The novel is beautifully constructed, with the characters’ individual experiences gradually weaving together, and the events of the past unfolding to reveal aftershocks in Emma’s present… Brown’s pacing is exquisite, revealing each twist slowly and deliberately, leaving you gripped to the end.” --The Bookseller (UK)
“This book is exactly the sort of book I love to read the most ... the setting is wonderfully romantic and evocative, and Emma’s job as a perfumier adds an extra frisson of sensuous interest. I have always been fascinated by this period of history, and THE PERFUME GARDEN does an extraordinary job of bringing it to life.” --Kate Forsyth, international bestselling author of Bitter Greens
“An absolute treat. There were some tearful moments, the occasionally funny moment and several 'Oh no!' moments. If I could have given this book 11/10 I would have done so.” --Novelicious (grade: 10/10)
“This book is an intelligent blend of beauty and sentimentality, and the moving nature of human experience during wartime.” --Bookgeeks
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